ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Meat: Ritual Slaughter

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will take steps to make the halal slaughter process more humane; and if she will make a statement.

James Paice: The Government are committed to ensuring a secure, environmentally sustainable and healthy supply of food with improved standards of animal welfare. This includes the supply of meat slaughtered in accordance with religious rites. Members of the Jewish and Muslim communities are aware of this and I have had discussions with them and sought their views, about improving the welfare of animals slaughtered for religious purposes without stunning.
	We do not to intend to ban religious slaughter, and we respect the rights of religious groups to practice their beliefs. Directive 93/119 on the welfare of animals at slaughter and killing will be replaced by regulation 1099/2009 in January 2013. This regulation allows slaughter without stunning in accordance with religious rites to continue. However individual member states can impose stricter rules in relation to religious slaughter if they wish and I am currently considering what might be done to improve welfare in this context. We will be consulting formally on implementation of regulation 1099/2009 in England later this year.

TRANSPORT

Departmental Pay

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many officials in (a) her Department and (b) the non-departmental public bodies for which her Department is responsible are paid (i) £100,000 or more and (ii) £142,500 or more per annum in the latest period for which figures are available.

Norman Baker: The information requested is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 (a) Department for Transport 
			 As at end February each year From £100,000 per annum to £142,499 per annum More than £142,500 per annum 
			 2012 32 4 
			 2010 40 6 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) D F T NDPBs 
			 As at end February each year From £100,000 per annum to £142,499 per annum More than £142,500 per annum 
			 2012 8 1 
			 2010 8 3 
			 Note: This response covers officials on payroll at end February 2010 and end February 2012. It excludes posts vacant at that time, including for 2012 the Permanent Secretary and chief executive of Directly Operated Railways, both of which outgoing post holders received more than £142,500 per annum. It also excludes any permanent posts filled by interim managers, contractors and consultants.

Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she plans to make an announcement on the proposed Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010.

Michael Penning: An announcement on the proposed Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010 will be made within the next few weeks.

Transport Fuel Obligation: Biofuels

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the potential effect of price fluctuations in renewable transport fuel certificates on market stability for waste-derived biodiesel producers; and if she will assess the potential effect of variations in the price of renewable transport fuel obligation certificates on the sustainability of the waste-derived biodiesel industry.

Norman Baker: The amended Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007 provides additional support to biofuels made from waste by awarding two renewable transport fuel certificates (RTFCs) for each litre supplied. This means that biofuels made from waste will now receive double the incentive provided for biofuels made from crops which meet mandatory sustainability criteria.
	The value of RTFCs is determined by the market. Demand and prices will fluctuate during the year for various reasons, including the price of oil. We will be reviewing double certification for biofuels made from waste in 2013 to ensure that it is having a positive effect on the biofuel industry.

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Meetings

Bob Russell: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, on how many occasions since September 2011 the Board of IPSA has met; for what reason details of Board meetings since 18 October 2011 have not been published on IPSA's website; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Walker: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	Letter from Andrew McDonald, dated 8 March 2012
	As Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for details of IPSA Board meetings and about publication of those details on IPSA's website.
	Since 18 October 2011, the Board has met six times: on 15 November 2011, 17 January 2012, 23 January 2012, 30 January 2012, 7 February 2012 and 21 February 2012.
	Under our publication scheme, we proactively publish the minutes of meetings of IPSA's Board. Minutes of such meetings through to 18 October 2011 are available on our website at:
	http://www.parliamentarystandards.org.uk/Pages/default.aspx
	Approved minutes of all meetings that have taken place since then will be available on IPSA's website no later than 13 April 2012.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Alcoholic Drinks

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she intends to introduce the ban on below cost selling of alcohol on 6 April 2012; and when any such order will be laid before the House.

James Brokenshire: The Government will be announcing their alcohol strategy shortly.

Animal Experiments: Pilot Schemes

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what pilot studies she conducted before implementing the Development Collaborative Business Portal project for processing licences under the Animal in Scientific Procedures Act 1986; and what assessment she has made of the performance of these pilot studies.

Lynne Featherstone: A pilot study commenced in April 2011 involving a number of internal and external stakeholders. That study is still under way, and the results at all stages of that pilot have been, and will continue to be, fully and comprehensively evaluated.

Closed Circuit Television

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information her Department holds on the number of people who were arrested where CCTV evidence was a contributory factor in (a) the west midlands, (b) West Yorkshire, (c) the east midlands and (d) Essex in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11.

James Brokenshire: Information on the evidence leading to arrests is not held centrally.

EU Justice and Home Affairs

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the EU Council Decision of 27 March 2000 (200/261/JHA), what assessment her Department has made of the (a) level of maintenance and (b) use of the system for exchanging information regarding false documents established by Article 1 of the Decision.

Damian Green: Council Decision 2000/261/JHA of March 2000 introduced a standard form and questionnaire for use when providing information alerts about counterfeit documents to other EU member states.
	This followed on Joint Action 98/7000/JHA of 3 December 1998 concerning the setting up of a European Image Archiving System (FADO). This system is a computerised archive containing images and textual information relating to falsified and authentic identity documents such as passports, identity cards, visas, residence permits and driving licenses. However it was recognised that it would be some years before FADO was fully functional and this standard form was designed to fill the gap until then.
	FADO is now fully rolled out across the EU and this system is therefore rarely used.

European Criminal Information System

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times UK authorities have accessed information on the European Criminal Information System in each year since it became operational.

Lynne Featherstone: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 30 November 2011, Official Report, column 972W.

European Image Archiving System

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to EU Council Joint Action 98/700/EU, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) level of maintenance and (b) use of the European Image Archiving System.

Damian Green: The European Image Archiving System is now known as FADO (False and Authentic Documents On-Line). It is available on three levels: FADO for expert users only, iFADO an intranet version for control authorities and PRADO which contains strictly limited information for public use. FADO is well supported by the vast majority of EU member states, including the United Kingdom. Initial work concentrated on the uploading of EU identity documents only but efforts are now underway to include source documents also as well as non-EU documents. The system currently holds in excess of 1,500 documents and is available to the police and all Government Departments which have a need to verify identity documents.
	The United Kingdom opted to implement a reverse proxy server solution to enable access to iFADO, which considerably simplifies the process. However, owing to the nature of the set-up it is difficult to say with any certainty how often FADO is accessed in the UK. Anecdotal evidence from the Border Agency, the police and other Government Departments confirms that it is used extensively.

Europol

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  with reference to the EU Council Act of 3 December 1999 laying down the staff regulations applicable to Europol employees, how many former employees were in receipt of the monthly unemployment allowance established by Article 59 of the Act in each of the last five years; how many such recipients were granted the allowance on the basis of illness, accident, maternity, invalidity or a situation recognised as being comparable under Article 59(2) of the Act in each such year; what the total cost was of providing monthly unemployment allowance in each year; and what assessment she has made of Europol's future pension liabilities;
	(2)  pursuant to the EU Council Decision of 2 December 1999 adjusting the remuneration and allowances applicable to Europol employees, what information her Department holds on the real terms increase in pay for each band of Europol employee on the pay scale since 1999.

James Brokenshire: The information requested is not held by the Government. Europol is responsible for keeping and managing its own personnel management records.

Internet Service Providers Association

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Internet Service Providers' Association has been included in consultation on the Communications Capabilities Development programme; and what steps have been taken to include all internet service providers in such discussions.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 6 March 2012
	Home Office officials have met with the main industry associations representing internet service providers and communications service providers to discuss the cross-Government Communication Capabilities Development programme. These meetings have included the Internet Service Providers' Association whose advice has been sought on how and when to engage with all interested internet service providers, as part of the Department's ongoing engagement strategy with industry.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2012, Official Report, column 464W, on Members: correspondence, if she will set out the reasons it took a month to inform the hon. Member for Walsall North that written authorisation was needed in case reference S1153849 and CTS ref M494/12.

Damian Green: Further to the answer of 1 March 2012, correspondence submitted by Members to the UK Border Agency is dealt with in target date order and in accordance with the Cabinet Office target to respond to 95% of letters from MPs within 20 working days. In this case the file was called for and examined to see if authorisation was already on file. Once it was established that it was not, the response issued under M494/12 was completed on the specified target date of 10 February.

DEFENCE

Army: Ethnic Groups

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of personnel in the (a) Regular and (b) Territorial Army are British citizens from ethnic minorities.

Andrew Robathan: As at 1 January 2012, 3.2% of the trained and untrained strength of the Regular Army were British citizens from ethnic minorities. This includes personnel born overseas who have since naturalised as British.
	As at 1 December 2011, 3.6% of Group A of the Territorial Army (defined in the Reserve Forces Act as regional and national headquarters, units and pools required to provide a national reserve) were British citizens from ethnic minorities. This also includes personnel born overseas who have since naturalised as British.

MOD Aberporth

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for further testing of equipment at Aberporth; what plans he has for future use of facilities at Aberporth by the armed forces; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has an ongoing requirement to conduct testing, evaluation, and training activities at the MOD Aberporth range using air-to-air, surface-to-air, and air-to-surface weapons. It is one of the UK's main air weapons ranges and its use by our armed forces and those of our allies is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Action for Employment: Fraud

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish all (a) internal correspondence of his Department and (b) correspondence with other Departments relating to the allegations of fraud at A4e.

Chris Grayling: The Department cannot publish information relating to the current allegations of fraud as this is a police matter and investigations are ongoing.

Bereavement Benefits

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  whether the review of bereavement benefits will consider extending eligibility for bereavement benefits to cohabiting, unmarried couples;
	(2)  if he will consider extending bereavement benefits to cohabiting couples as part of the review into bereavement benefits.

Steve Webb: Marriage and civil partnerships are legal contracts that are associated with certain rights, including inheritance, recognition in the tax system and entitlement to certain benefits. Given this legal position, the Government have no plans to extend eligibility for bereavement benefits to cohabitees.

Child Support Agency

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the (a) average administrative cost per case of collecting the proposed charge for the use of the Child Support Agency, (b)  total cost of administering the charge and (c)  revenue which will accrue from the charge; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Miller: There is no intention to charge for accessing the Child Support Agency. When the new scheme using HM Revenue and Customs income data is launched, we will run it for at least six months to ensure it is working and delivering an improved client service before we introduce charges. At that point, we will begin to close all existing Child Support Agency cases and invite parents to choose whether they wish to apply to the new scheme or whether they would rather seek to agree their own arrangement between themselves.
	The application fee is payable upfront before an application proceeds and is collected as part of the application process. The incremental costs of collection are expected to be negligible.
	The likely range of revenues accruing from the application charge is £4 million-£6 million in this spending review. Further details will follow in the impact assessments which will accompany the charging regulations.

Cold Weather Payments: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Easington constituency received a cold weather payment in each of the last five years.

Steve Webb: There are two weather stations associated with the Easington constituency. The number of benefit units we estimate to have had a payment in the area covered by the weather stations is in the following table.
	
		
			 Table 1: Estimated number of cold weather payment made for weather stations linked to postcode districts in the Easington constituency 
			 Weather  s tation 2011-12 2010-11 2010-09 2009-08 2008-07 
			 Albemarle 147,400 743,000 728,800 589,200 0 
			 Loftus 56,100 224,400 110,000 58,500 0 
			 Notes: 1. The information provided is Management Information. Our preference is to answer all parliamentary questions using Official/National Statistics but in this case we only have Management Information available. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official/National Statistics and there are some issues with the data; for example, figures given are estimates. Actuals are not available. Estimates for 2011-12 may be revised after the end of the cold weather payment season, but will still be estimates not actuals. 2. A cold weather payment is made to an eligible customer when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0° C or below over seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to the customer's postcode. (When the temperature criterion is met, the weather station is said to trigger.) 3. All weather stations are linked both to an area within the Easington constituency and also to an area outside the Easington constituency.-Estimated numbers given are for the weather station as a whole, not for the part of the Easington constituency linked to the weather station. Sources: 1. Postcode district to weather station links: Department for Work and Pensions records. 2. Records of triggers and estimates of potential qualifiers by weather station: Department for Work and Pensions records.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what reduction in carbon dioxide emissions his Department has made under the 10:10 initiative.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions did not sign up to the 10:10 initiative. However, it exceeded the target set by the Prime Minister on 14 May 2010 for Central Government Departments to cut carbon emissions from energy usage by 10% in 12 months, delivering a 14.2% reduction between May 2010 and May 2011.

Employment: Chronically Sick People

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on improving capacity to work amongst those with chronic debilitating conditions.

Maria Miller: DOH and DWP work closely together on improving health for work including improving capacity to work among those with chronic debilitating conditions. Current joint work includes developing the cross-government Mental Health strategy implementation framework as well as Government's long-term conditions outcomes strategy. Progress will be measured through the employment and health indicators in the national health service and public health outcomes frameworks.

Flexible Support Fund

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the annual budget is of the Flexible Support Fund.

Chris Grayling: All budget allocations are reviewed quarterly as part of a continuous planning process and subject to change in the light of ongoing reviews of performance and value for money achieved and wider priorities. We currently plan to spend £68 million in 2011-12.

Funeral Payments

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications his Department received for the Social Fund Funeral Payment in 2011 (i) nationwide and (ii) in Stoke-on-Trent.

Steve Webb: The following table provides the figures on the total number of funeral payment applications and awards for Great Britain between January 2011 and December 2011.
	
		
			 National 
			  Applications Successful  a wards Percentage 
			 Funeral Payments 70,990 38,620 54.4 
			 Source: Budget and Management Information System (PBMIS) 
		
	
	Stoke-on-Trent is covered by the Social Fund West Midlands Budget Area. The following table gives figures on the total number of funeral payment applications and awards for the West Midlands Social Fund Budget Area between January 2011 and December 2011.
	
		
			 West Midlands 
			  Applications Awards Percentage 
			 Funeral Payments 6,960 3,970 57.0 
			 Notes: 1. The information provided is Management Information. Our preference is to answer all parliamentary questions using Official/National Statistics but in this case we only have Management Information available. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official/National statistics and there are some issues with the data, for example, these amounts do not include expenditure on applications which were processed clerically and have not yet been entered on to the Social Fund Computer System. 2. Data on funeral payments is not held by local authority or parliamentary constituency but by Jobcentre Plus Social Fund Budget Area. 3. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Budget and Management Information System (PBMIS)

Jobcentre Plus: East of England

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Jobcentre Plus buildings in the East of England are (a) fully, (b) partially and (c) not accessible to disabled people.

Chris Grayling: There are 54 Jobcentre Plus buildings in the East of England which are open to the public. They are all fully accessible to disabled people.

Pensions

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to ensure that those qualifying for state pension are paid from the day they qualify.

Steve Webb: Prior to April 2010, state pension was paid in advance and only for full benefit weeks, i.e. seven days, from the first Monday after the person reached state pension age. This meant that if someone reached state pension age on any day other than Monday they would not be paid until the following Monday and there would be a payment gap.
	In April 2010 two important changes were made. First, to ensure there was continuity of payment when someone moved directly from a working age to a pension age benefit, state pension became payable for less than a week where the benefit paydays were different.
	Second, state pension became payable in arrears with the payday determined by a person's national insurance number. However, where someone was not moving from a working age benefit it was still only payable for a full benefit week; daily or part-week payments were not available.
	Accordingly both pre- and post-April 2010 state pension was not always payable from the exact date that someone qualified for state pension, that is, when they reached their relevant birthday.
	There are no plans to change this approach.

Social Fund

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consultations his Department undertook with relevant stakeholders before laying the draft statutory instrument on the treatment of social fund loans in debt relief and bankruptcy orders; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The Insolvency Rules were amended following a decision by the Supreme Court that deductions from ongoing benefit could no longer be taken to recover social fund loan repayments during the moratorium period of a debt relief order. The court also held that such deductions could not be made during a bankruptcy order.
	There was no consultation on the change to the rules as it was decided that the social fund should be protected as soon as possible from the impact of debt relief and bankruptcy orders. This is because the social fund is cash limited and relies on loan repayments to be available for others in need.
	A public consultation would have not only delayed the change process but would have imposed unnecessary costs.

Social Security Benefits: Families

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many families of (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3, (d) 4, (e) 5, (f) 6, (g) 7, (h) 8, (i) 9 and (j) 10 people will be affected by the £26,000 cap on benefits.

Chris Grayling: The following table sets out estimates of the number of households affected by the benefit cap broken down by number of people in the family unit/household.
	
		
			  Number of households affected 
			 Number of people in the family  
			 1 8,600 
			 2 2,900 
			 3 6,600 
			 4 11,000 
			 5 12,300 
			 6 13,700 
			 7 7,000 
			 8 2,700 
			 9 1,000 
			 10 300 
		
	
	There may be some households who may be affected by the cap who have more than 10 people.
	The figures presented in the table are consistent with the recent Impact Assessment published on 23 January 2012. These estimates have not been adjusted for the additional easements announced in the House of Commons on 1 February, which include: the exemption of households who were in receipt of the support component of employment and support allowance; and a nine-month grace period for claimants who were in work for 52 weeks or more before the start of their claim.
	It is assumed that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work Programme to move as many into work as possible.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit claimants have been convicted of an offence relating to benefit fraud.

Chris Grayling: Information on the number of benefit claimants convicted of an offence relating to benefit fraud in England and Wales is as follows:
	2010-11: 8,084
	2011-12: 7,806 (a 10 month period 1 April 2011 to 31 January 2012)

Social Security Benefits: Overpayments

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to exclude benefit overpayments and social fund loans from bankruptcy and debt relief orders.

Steve Webb: From 19 March 2012 the Insolvency Rules will be amended to ensure that social fund loans will be outside the scope of a debt relief order and will no longer be provable debts in a bankruptcy.
	This reflects the nature of the discretionary social fund which relies on the recycling of funding through repayments. If we were not to take this measure, the Department's ability to make new loans to vulnerable people would be severely restricted. Benefit overpayments will continue to be subject to various forms of insolvency relief but debts occurring due to fraud will be excluded from such relief where the law permits.

Tax Credit

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Rotherham he estimates will see their working family tax credit reduced as a result of his proposed cap.

Chris Grayling: Working families may qualify for child tax credit and working tax credit. Households entitled to working tax credit will be exempt from the household benefit cap.
	We estimate that in Rotherham around 100 non working households may be affected by the cap and that these households will see their benefit reduced by up to a £100 a week.
	The Department will be working to support households likely to be capped, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work programme to move as many into work as possible.

Universal Credit

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criteria he used in the selection of members of the programme board for the introduction of IT for universal credit; if he will consider appointing a representative of local authorities to the programme board; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions has developed a number of universal credit governance boards. These have day-to-day oversight of the strategic direction, design and delivery of universal credit, to ensure that the universal credit design achieves its outcomes and is simple to understand and administer.
	The programme board provides strategic direction to ensure the programme delivers universal credit in line with its objectives, within agreed time and cost parameters. When the membership of the programme board was being decided it was deemed important that the membership should comprise of four clearly identified groups: Decision-making organisations; Delivery organisations; Voice of the Claimant representatives; and Voice of the Taxpayer.
	The programme recognised the importance of working with key stakeholders to inform the design and delivery of universal credit. This has been reflected in the current programme board membership which includes senior officials from the Department for Work and Pensions, other Government Departments and local authorities. A local authority chief executive officer was nominated by the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) to represent all Great Britain local authorities on the Universal Credit Programme Board.
	The Business and IT Solutions Steering Group is responsible for the detailed design and development of an assured universal credit solution including the end to end IT systems that supports the successful delivery of the universal credit service design. This group is accountable to the programme board for the universal credit business and IT solution. The deputy director for welfare reform, Department for Communities and Local Government is a member of this group.

Work Programme

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to guarantee the quality of Work programme placements.

Chris Grayling: Work programme providers have the flexibility to innovate and to design support that addresses the specific needs of the individual and the local labour market, rather than having to follow one-size-fits all processes dictated by Whitehall. This flexibility includes placements.
	The Work programme is a payment by results scheme therefore providers have an incentive to only support activities, including high quality work placements, which enable participants get and keep work. Along with this providers have standards setting out the minimum service that all participants must receive in their contracts.
	If the claimant feels they have hot received adequate support or are otherwise dissatisfied with their placement they can use the strengthened complaints process that has been introduced for the Work programme. In the first instance a complaint should be raised directly to their provider though their formal complaints process. Complaints not resolved can be escalated for independent review.

Work Programme

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment his Department has made of the performance of the Work programme.

Chris Grayling: Participants are on the Work programme for two years. Providers can only claim a job outcome payment after a participant has been in employment and off benefit for up to 26 weeks. It will therefore take time before sufficient job outcome data are available to create a meaningful statistical series. For this reason job outcome information will not be available until autumn 2012.
	The Department for Work and Pensions has commissioned a consortium led by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) to undertake an independent evaluation of the Work programme. Evaluation work started in autumn 2011 and will conclude in 2014.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Catering

David Amess: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many bookings were made by hon. Members for Dining Room (a) A, (b) B, (c) C and (d) D in each of the last six months for which information is available; and what bookings there were in each such Dining Room in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007, (iv) 2008, (v) 2009 and (vi) 2010.

John Thurso: In accordance with the House of Commons Records Management Policy, information is held for a period of three years and therefore no bookings information for Terrace Dining Rooms A, B, C and D is available for 2005, 2006, 2007 or 2008.
	Bookings for these Dining Rooms in each of the last six months, September 2011 to February 2012, are set out as follows, together with information for 2009 and 2010.
	
		
			  Room 
			  A B C D 
			 September 2011 7 7 2 2 
			 October 2011 19 8 5 8 
			 November 2011 22 10 12 9 
			 December 2011 17 6 6 6 
			 January 2012 7 6 3 7 
			 February 2012 8 8 6 8 
		
	
	
		
			  Room 
			  A B C D 
			 2009 270 182 138 121 
			 2010 170 136 91 57

Early-day Motions

Graham Evans: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the cost to the public purse was of early day motions in 2010-11.

John Thurso: In 2010-11 the cost of early-day motions (EDMs) was approximately £578,000. £431,000 of this was accounted for by the printing and publication of EDMs, amendments to them and added names under the House's contract with TSO. The Table Office's software application for processing EDMs cost roughly £12,000, and costs associated with the maintenance and technical support for the EDMi database were £57,000. The remainder, £78,000, was accounted for by staff costs in the Table Office and by the Editorial Supervisor of the Vote, incurred through the processing and inputting of notices relating to EDMs.
	Since the general election, the House has ceased printing EDMs after they have appeared in print for a full sitting week. In 2010-11 this resulted in a cost saving of approximately £355,000 compared with 2009-10.

JUSTICE

Appeals: Social Security Benefits

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average waiting time was for appeals to decisions on (a) disability living allowance, (b) incapacity benefit and (c) employment and support allowance in (i) England and Wales, broken down by parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to disability living allowance (DLA), incapacity benefit (IB) and employment and support allowance (ESA).
	Data for the SSCS Tribunal is not recorded by parliamentary constituency, and the work required to provide it in that format would involve disproportionate cost. All appeals to the tribunal are registered in the processing centre in the region where the appellant lives, and the data can be broken down to the level of these processing centres.
	The following table shows the average time from receipt at the tribunal to disposal for DLA, IB and ESA appeals for the region served by each processing centre. The information covers 1 April 2007 to 31 October 2011, the latest period for which figures are available.
	
		
			 Average time in weeks from receipt of appeals to disposal 
			 April 2007-March 2008 
			 Processing centre Disability living allowance Incapacity benefit Employment and support allowance 
			 England and Wales 9.5 7.9 — 
			 Birmingham(1) (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2)) 9.6 8.1 — 
		
	
	
		
			 Cardiff (Wales and SW England) 9.0 7.5 — 
			 Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber) 9.9 8.1 — 
			 Liverpool (NW England) 9.5 7.9 — 
			 Newcastle (NE England) 9.6 7.8 — 
			 Sutton (London and SE England) 10.0 7.9 — 
		
	
	
		
			 April 2008-March 2009 
			 Processing centre Disability living allowance Incapacity benefit Employment and support allowance 
			 England and Wales 12.0 10.4 5.1 
			 Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2)) 12.4 11.1 10.5 
			 Cardiff (Wales and SW England) 11.7 11.0 2.8 
			 Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber) 12.0 9.7 3.7 
			 Liverpool (NW England) 11.6 9.6 2.0 
			 Newcastle (NE England) 13.0 10.7 2.0 
			 Sutton (London and SE England) 10.4 9.0 3.3 
		
	
	
		
			 April 2009-March 2010 
			 Processing centre Disability living allowance Incapacity benefit Employment and support allowance 
			 England and Wales 16.3 15.4 12.7 
			 Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2)) 17.0 16.9 13.7 
			 Cardiff (Wales and SW England) 16.3 15.9 12.8 
			 Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber) 12.8 11.6 10.0 
			 Liverpool (NW England) 17.4 14.6 12.2 
			 Newcastle (NE England) 17.5 14.9 13.3 
			 Sutton (London and SE England) 14.7 16.0 13.1 
		
	
	
		
			 April 2010-March 2011 
			 Processing centre Disability living allowance Incapacity benefit Employment and support allowance 
			 England and Wales 22.6 22.9 19.3 
			 Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2)) 24.4 26.7 22.4 
			 Cardiff (Wales and SW England) 20.9 21.0 18.4 
			 Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber) 20.0 19.6 17.3 
			 Liverpool (NW England) 23.0 20.1 16.4 
			 Newcastle (NE England) 25.6 23.2 19.6 
			 Sutton (London and SE England) 20.5 23.1 18.7 
		
	
	
		
			 April 2011-October 2011 
			 Processing centre Disability living allowance Incapacity benefit Employment and support allowance 
			 England and Wales 29.4 30.8 24.8 
			 Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government office regions and part London Government office region(2)) 35.2 43.0 31.3 
			 Cardiff (Wales and SW England) 26.3 27.7 21.5 
			 Leeds (Yorkshire and Humber) 27.2 29.4 23.0 
			 Liverpool (NW England) 27.7 23.1 20.3 
			 Newcastle (NE England) 31.1 26.1 21.0 
			 Sutton (London and SE England) 24.8 33.5 21.5 
			 (1) Over this period the processing work for East and West Midlands region transitioned from two processing centres in Nottingham and Birmingham to one in Birmingham. As this transition distorts the data tor each processing centre the data is given for the region as a whole. (2) Covers whole of Government office region London except Hillingdon, Harrow, Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, Hackney which are covered by Birmingham. Notes: 1. These data are taken from management information. 2. Employment and support allowance was introduced in October 2008. 3. The England and Wales figures are not calculated from the figures given for the individual processing centres but are calculated using national data from all processing centres. As the sets of figures are calculated in different ways there may be slight discrepancies between them. 
		
	
	HMCTS is working hard to increase the capacity of the SSCS Tribunal and reduce waiting times. It has begun using additional hearing rooms; increased the number of cases listed in each session; increased the number of sessions held; streamlined its administrative processes; started running double shifts in its largest processing centre so that more appeals can be processed each day; started running Saturday sittings in some of the busiest venues (where there is demand and where it is feasible); set up a customer contact centre to deal with telephone enquiries for the processing sites, freeing up other staff to focus on processing appeals and arranging hearings; and recruited more judges and panel members to hear more appeals.
	All of this is having a positive effect. The number of disposals has increased significantly from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 380,000 in 2010-11 and 252,000 in the first six months of 2011-12. Disposals outstripped receipts for the 10 months between January 2011 and October 2011, and the number of cases waiting to be heard reduced by over 35,000 between April and October. The average waiting time has stabilised nationally, and is beginning to fall in many venues.

Buildings

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what recent progress his Department has made on reducing its central London estate;
	(2)  with reference to his Department's business plan, what progress his Department has made on its plan to relocate 1,000 posts out of London by 2015;

Jonathan Djanogly: In 2007, the Department began a programme to improve the utilisation of its administrative estate. Between 2007 and the end of March 2012, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), including executive agencies and arm’s length bodies, will have reduced the number of central London headquarters administrative properties from 22 to 10 properties.
	By 2015, the MOJ will have further reduced the number of these headquarters properties to a maximum of four.
	Around 500 posts from the Office of the Public Guardian have relocated from London to Birmingham.

HM Courts and Tribunals Services: Reorganisation

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effect of (a) the reorganisation of HM Courts and Tribunals Services and (b) changes in funding of the service on frontline services.

Jonathan Djanogly: The reorganisation of HMCTS has improved focus on frontline delivery, reduced unnecessary management tiers and enabled better alignment of the agency's estate. Performance has been maintained against published impact indicators when comparing the first six months of 2011-12 (the latest information available) with the same period in 2010-11. HMCTS is making a range of savings across the spending review period, including reductions in management grades, to ensure that frontline services are protected.

Judges: Pay

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost to the public purse was of (a) the salaries, (b) expenses and (c) any other costs of the judges in the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal is made up of three jurisdictions: Social Security and Child Support, Criminal Injuries Compensation and Asylum Support.
	The following table shows the cost of (a) judicial salaries and fees, (b) expenses and (c) other judicial costs within each of these three jurisdictions in each of the last five financial years.
	
		
			  2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 (a) Judicial Salaries and Fees      
			 Social Security and Child Support      
			 Salaries 9,121 9,264 9,512 9,927 10,776 
			 Fees 15,439 15,576 16,413 22,145 29,091 
			 Total 24,560 24,840 25,925 32,072 39,867 
			       
			 Criminal Injuries      
			 Salaries 21 — 158 36 111 
			 Fees 1,148 1,037 1,149 1,145 1,395 
			 Total 1,169 1,037 1,307 1,181 1,506 
			       
			 Asylum Support      
			 Salaries — 759 708 728 748 
			 Fees — 110 123 252 424 
			 Total — 869 831 980 1,172 
			 Overall total 25,729 26,746 28,063 34,233 42,545 
			       
			 (b) Expenses      
			 Social Security and Child Support 1,482 1,610 1,894 1,906 2,260 
			 Criminal Injuries 210 264 228 251 307 
			 Asylum Support — 10 13 19 28 
			 Total 1,692 1,884 2,135 2,176 2,595 
			       
			 (c) Other Judicial Costs      
			 Social Security and Child Support 328 371 406 315 441 
			 Criminal Injuries — — — — — 
			 Asylum Support — — — — — 
			 Notes: 1. All figures are in £000 and are rounded. 2. Figures for Asylum Support for 2006-07 are not available. The Tribunal did not become part of the Tribunals Service until 2007-08. 3. 'Other Judicial Costs' is the expenditure on Judicial Publications (such as copies of legislation) in SSCS. These costs are not available for the individual smaller tribunal jurisdictions. Criminal Injuries, and Asylum Support, as they are collated together across a range of jurisdictions and cannot be easily disaggregated.

Public Expenditure

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to his Department's Business Plan, what progress his Department has made in saving £1 billion from administration and front line efficiency.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Department is making good progress in delivering the savings to live within the spending review settlement, including through increased efficiencies in the back office and at the frontline.

Stalking

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what additional training on stalking and stalking behaviour he plans for judges and magistrates.

Jonathan Djanogly: The responsibility for judicial training for courts judiciary lies with the Lord Chief Justice as head of the judiciary and is exercised through the Judicial College.
	There is currently no dedicated training on stalking or stalking behaviour. However, where this arises as an issue within wider training topics, most notably for domestic violence and wider harassment legislation, judges, magistrates and their legal advisers are reminded of the legal remedies available to the court that will assist victims.
	The Judicial College regularly assesses judicial training needs and how to meet them.

Tribunals

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases were heard in the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal is made up of three jurisdictions: Asylum Support, Criminal Injuries Compensation and Social Security and Child Support.
	The following table shows the total number of cases disposed of in each of these three jurisdictions from 2007-08 to April to October 2011. This includes cases disposed of at hearing, as well as cases that were withdrawn, superseded or struck out. This information is not available for 2006-07 as it was not formally recorded for any of the jurisdictions and has therefore not previously been published.
	
		
			 Cases disposed of in the social entitlement chamber 
			  2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 April 2011 to October 2011 
			 Asylum Support 2,400 2,000 2,800 2,000 1,100 
			 Criminal Injuries Compensation 2,600 3,100 3,300 3,600 1,700 
			 Social Security and Child Support 256,600 245,500 279,300 380,200 252,400 
			 Total 261,600 250,600 285,400 385,800 255,200 
			 Note: The above data are taken from management information.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Chemicals

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make an assessment of the effect on metal finishing businesses in the UK of hexavalent chromium and cobalt salts becoming authorised substances under the Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals.

Mark Prisk: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is working closely with industry, industry bodies and with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Health and Safety Executive to understand the economic impact to business from the implementation of Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), including from the identification of hexavalent chromium and cobalt salts as Substances of Very High Concern and their future management under REACH regulations.
	UK stakeholder views inform our ongoing engagement with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the European Commission. ECHA, which made the recommendation to the European Commission, have themselves consulted publicly on their plans and the views of industries likely to be affected are taken into account when implementing REACH.
	BIS continues to engage directly in an active dialogue with stakeholders in the UK so that potentially harmful substances, through the authorisation process, can continue to be used safely while alternatives are found—fostering innovation and promoting substitution to safer alternatives.

Copyright

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, column 754W, on copyright: economic growth, whether the Government plans to (a) publish further impact assessments on the consultation on copyright and (b) commission research on the costs and benefits to all parties who could be affected by the proposals in the consultation on copyright.

Norman Lamb: The Government will publish further Impact Assessments to accompany any proposals for legislation. These will incorporate evidence received during its consultation on copyright.
	The Government have commissioned four pieces of research relating to its consultation on copyright. These are due to report by the summer and will help inform ongoing economic analysis of the costs and benefits of its proposals.

Disabled Students’ Allowances

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will raise the cap on disabled students allowance (DSA) for post graduate students to match the level of financial support provided under DSA to undergraduate students with disabilities.

David Willetts: Postgraduate students with disabilities can receive up to £10,260 disabled students allowance per academic year to assist with additional expenditure that they are obliged to incur in relation to their attendance on a course. There are no plans to increase the maximum amount allowable under disabled students allowances for postgraduate students.
	The Government also provide funding to higher education institutions, through the Higher Education Funding Council for England, to help them recruit and support disabled students; £13 million will be provided in academic year 2011/12.

Employment: Regulation

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many items of correspondence he received from the private sector calling for employment regulations to be weakened in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: The Department receives correspondence about a range of employment law issues and deals with each item on an individual basis. It would not be practical to collate overall figures by subject matter.
	BIS is fully engaged with a wide range of interested parties about the Employment Law Review, which aims to give business greater confidence to take on staff, whilst protecting fairness for employees. The Red Tape Challenge spotlight on employment-related law last autumn sought views from businesses, unions and civil society. Around 2,000 comments have been received offering a spectrum of views on the employment law framework. These can be viewed online at:
	http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
	We also received 28 private submissions from business and their representative bodies.

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications for finance guarantees from companies in each local authority area under the enterprise finance guarantee scheme have been (a) received and (b) approved since the scheme's inception.

Mark Prisk: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not have a breakdown of the total number of Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) loan applications made by businesses in each local authority.
	The processing of an EFG application varies between accredited lenders, and was designed to fit seamlessly alongside their existing internal systems and procedures. This can include filtering out ineligible or inappropriate applications before entering onto the EFG portal (application and management information system), meaning there is not comparable recorded data between lenders.
	Lending figures on a local authority level are available only once a formal loan offer has been made. A copy of the EFG loan figures has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Higher Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how higher education courses run by an alternative or private provider are designated.

David Willetts: Eligible higher education courses provided by alterative or private providers are designated for the purposes of student support on a course by course basis by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable).
	Applications are assessed against the course designation criteria in the Education (Student Support) Regulations. The criteria relate to course type, duration and mode of study; in addition all courses must be validated by a recognised UK awarding body such as a university. This provides quality assurance.
	We have also recently introduced due diligence checks on organisations that are applying for specific designation for the first time. These include consideration of management and governance, financial stability and longevity of an organisation.
	If this Department is satisfied that the course meets the course eligibility criteria and that the provider does not pose a risk to the use of public funds, the course is specifically designated.

Higher Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what information his Department holds on each higher education course which has been designated in this Parliament.

David Willetts: The Department maintains a record of all courses that have been specifically designated for student support in this Parliament. The information held includes details of the institution that provides the course; the full name of the course; the date that the application for specific designation was made; confirmation that the course is awarded or valid by a UK awarding body; and the date that the application was approved.
	All full time higher education courses that have been automatically designated for student support in this Parliament are recorded on the Student Loans Company's course database. This includes information on the institution that provides the course; the full name of the course; the qualification type; the duration of the course; whether or not the course is delivered as part of a franchise arrangement; and the fee that institutions charge for the course. This information is made available to the Department.

Innovation: Government Assistance

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses in (a) the South East, (b) Kent and (c) Dartford constituency have received funding from the Innovation Investment Fund.

David Willetts: As at 31 December 2011, there were four companies in the UK Innovation Investment Fund portfolio that are located in the South East, but none of these are based in Dartford or, indeed, Kent.
	The UK Innovation Investment Fund is a venture capital fund of funds and is not a pot of money to which businesses can apply for grant-type funding. Businesses need to approach the underlying funds directly for investment and the Government have no role in directing or influencing funding decisions.

Overseas Trade

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many firms in each region exported goods and services in each of the last three years.

Mark Prisk: The number of firms exporting goods in each region according to HMRC Regional Trade Statistics can be seen in the following table. Please note that if a firm is exporting from multiple regions it will be counted in each region that it exports from. A count of service exporters by region is not available.
	
		
			  2008 2009 2010 
			 North-east 1,654 1,578 1,528 
			 North-west 7,259 6,880 6,788 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 5,588 5,280 5,232 
			 East midlands 5,973 5,761 5,745 
			 West midlands 7,337 6,972 6,817 
			 East 8,616 8,182 8,058 
			 London 14,929 13,875 13,585 
			 South-east 13,966 13,266 13,113 
			 South-west 5,967 5,707 5,611 
			 Wales 2,042 1,963 1,933 
			 Scotland 3,981 3,811 3,726 
			 Northern Ireland 1,832 1,729 1,671 
			 Source: HMRC Regional Trade Statistics.

Overseas Trade: Pakistan

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the monetary value of trade between the UK and Pakistan was in each of the last five years.

Mark Prisk: The value of the UK's trade with Pakistan is given in the following table:
	
		
			 £ million 
			  UK exports to Pakistan UK imports from Pakistan UK total trade with Pakistan 
			 Goods and services    
			 2006 851 995 1,846 
			 2007 745 903 1,648 
			 2008 822 1,031 1,853 
			 2009 835 1,091 1,926 
			 2010 763 1,252 2,015 
			 2011 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			     
			 Goods only    
			 2011 509 853 1,362 
			 (1) Not yet available. Notes: 1. Data for the UK's trade on goods and services are published by the Office for National Statistics on a balance of payments (BoP) basis, current prices. 2. Data for the UK's trade in goods are published by HM Revenue and Customs on an overseas trade statistics (OTS) basis, current prices.

Regional Assistance: Northern Ireland

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he has taken to retain assisted area status for Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: The Department is working with Northern Ireland and the other devolved Administrations to influence the Commission on the Regional Aid Guidelines which will set the rules for how assisted area coverage is allocated between member states during the period 2014-20. This work is taking account of the consultation on removing Northern Ireland's Automatic Assisted Area status from the Industrial Development Act 1982, on which the UK Government will be responding shortly.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Action for Employment

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what contracts his Department has with A4e; and what the (a) purpose and (b) value is of each such contract.

Bob Neill: holding answer 27 February 2012
	My Department has no current contracts with A4e.

Council Tax

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations he has received on the timing of the introduction of the council tax reduction scheme; and if he will place copies of any such representations in the Library.

Bob Neill: holding answer 5 March 2012
	Ministers regularly receive representations on the reform of council tax support from a range of organisations and individuals. The consultation of proposals for localising council tax support (published on 2 August 2011) did not actively seek views on the timing of introduction, as the Government have been clear from the policy's inception that the reforms would commence in 2013-14.

Council Tax

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what modelling his Department has undertaken on the potential effects of council tax benefit localisation on (a) people with disabilities, (b) single people and (c) working families.

Bob Neill: The Department published an Impact Assessment on 19 December 2011 which sets out the Department's assessment of the potential impact on current council tax benefits claimants—including single claimants, and those with child dependents:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/2053960.pdf
	On 10 January 2012 the Department published an Equality Impact Assessment which sets out what proportion of current council tax benefit claimants under 65 are disabled, according to the definition of disability under the Equality Act:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/2063707.pdf
	The Government remain committed to retaining council tax support for the most vulnerable in society. This reform is part of the decentralisation agenda. It will create stronger incentives for councils to get people back into work and so support the positive work incentives that will be introduced through the Government's plans on universal credit.

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was paid to officials in his Department and its non-departmental public bodies in (a) bonuses, (b) allowances and (c) other payments additional to basic salary in each of the last two years for which figures are available; what categories of payment may be made to officials in addition to basic salary; what the monetary value is of each category of payment; and what the monetary value was of the 20 largest such payments made in each of the last two years.

Bob Neill: The information requested has been placed in the Library of the House.
	Ministers believe there is a strong case to reform the remuneration arrangements that we have inherited from the previous Administration. We have strengthened the pay governance arrangements across the Department and its arm’s length bodies, with a view to ensuring the arrangements represent value for taxpayers' money and will command public confidence in the future.

Empty Property

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vacant and unused homes there are in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Newcastle and (c) Gateshead; and if he will make a statement on his plans to promote the use of vacant and unused homes.

Andrew Stunell: Figures on the numbers of empty homes in each local authority in England are published on the Department for Communities and Local Government website, in live table 615 at the following link. Figures are not available at the constituency level.
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/stockincludingvacants/livetables/
	In November last year, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister published “Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England” which sets out our strategy for tackling empty homes, including £150 million funding to bring empty homes back into use.

Families: Finance

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what definition he uses of (a) families and (b) success measures in the work-led families programme; what funds his Department will spend on the programme in 2012-13; and what estimate he has made of the level of expenditure by local councils in 2012-13.

Bob Neill: holding answer 5 March 2012
	The Troubled Families Team is currently working on these definitions and measures. Further details on the arrangements for the new troubled families programme, including the definition of a troubled family, success measures and payment arrangements, will be announced shortly.
	Central Government will be providing £448 million of funding over the next three years. The Department has a budget of £118 million available to spend in 2012-13 for the troubled families programme.
	Information on estimated expenditure by local authorities in 2012-13 in respect of this work is not available. The funding for the Troubled Families Programme will be made available to all local areas (at upper-tier local authority level) from 2012-13, primarily on a payment-by-results basis, distributed as a 40% contribution to the costs of actions needed. The remaining 60% will need to be found locally, from the local authority and partners (including, for example, police, health and Job Centre Plus).

Housing: Repairs and Maintenance

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential risks to householders in respect of electricity and gas safety of reductions in grants for home repairs prior to the local government financial settlements.

Andrew Stunell: Local authorities have powers, under the Housing Act 2004, to assess the risks and hazards in residential properties using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If a property is found to contain serious (category 1) hazards, the local authority has a duty to take the most appropriate action. This could range from trying to deal with the problems informally at first to prohibiting the use of the whole or part of the dwelling.
	Local authorities also have powers under the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 to provide financial assistance for repairs, improvements, or adaptations to homes. It is for local authorities to determine how they will use these powers, taking into account local priorities.
	My Department is providing £1.6 billion of funding over the spending review period to help councils ensure council housing meets the Decent Homes Standard. The following table shows the stock of non-decent homes in the social sector, bringing together the LA data and the PRP data from the RSR:
	www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/2039595.xls
	This shows that between 2010 and 2011 there was a reduction in the number of non-decent social homes of 140,000 homes during 2010-11.

Housing: Thurrock

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new (a) jobs and (b) homes have been created in Thurrock since the inception of the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation.

Bob Neill: The following table provides information on planning consents granted by Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation since the corporation assumed planning powers.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of homes given planning consent Notional jobs that would be created 
			 2005-06(1) 1 132 
			 2006-07 100 2,129 
			 2007-08 20 921 
			 2008-09 1,407 1,047 
			 2009-10 260 954 
			 2010-11 1,032 382 
			 2011-12 to date(2) 1,938 2,027 
			 Total 4,758 7,592 
			 (1) Planning powers assumed in October 2005. (2) Two further Planning Committees planned for 2011-12. 
		
	
	This information was collated by the corporation and are not estimates made by my Department. The figures on the number of notional jobs are based on estimates submitted by applicants for planning permission; where job estimates were not provided, they were calculated by the corporation using English Partnerships methodology.

Local Government Finance: Housing

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for how many homes the New Homes Bonus has been paid in each local authority in the latest period for which figures are available; how many of such homes are new build properties; how many of such homes had already commenced (a) construction and (b) tendering before the introduction of the New Homes Bonus; and how many homes have been built or committed to be built using resources provided by the New Homes Bonus.

Grant Shapps: This year we will pay £432 million of New Homes Bonus for local authorities in England. This includes the second instalment of £199 million in respect of year one and £233 million for housing growth in year two.
	A table which sets out the number of additional homes by local authority for which New Homes Bonus will be paid for 2012-13 has been placed in the Library of the House. The numbers comprise new build and conversions (our data only gives a combined figure) and long-term empty homes brought back into use.
	The Department does not hold the other information requested.

Non-domestic Rates

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what revenue accrued to the Exchequer from national non-domestic rates in each year of the last spending review.

Bob Neill: Details of the total contribution to the national non-domestic rates pool by all billing authorities in England for the period 2006-07 to 2010-11 are shown in Table 1 of the statistical release ‘National non-domestic rates collected by local authorities in England 2010-11’ that is available on the DCLG website at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/localregional/localgovernmentfinance/statistics/nondomesticrates/outturn/
	The contribution to the pool figure is the amount of national non-domestic rates paid by local authorities into the national non-domestic rates pool after the deduction of allowances for losses in collection and the cost of collecting the rates. This pool is redistributed to local authorities as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement.

Non-domestic Rates

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the effect of the rate of inflation in September 2011 on the revenue which will accrue to the Exchequer from national non-domestic rates in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14.

Bob Neill: The September 2011 rate of inflation as measured by the retail price index was 5.6% and increased the non-domestic rate multiplier to 45.0p for 2012-13, from 42.6p in 2011-12. The September 2012 rate of inflation will affect the multiplier for 2013-14.
	The September 2011 rate of inflation has no affect on the 2011-12 revenue from the national non-domestic rates. No estimates have been made to identify the effect the rate of inflation in September 2011 has had on the revenue accrued to the Exchequer however the estimated contribution to the national non-domestic rating pool based on the 2012-13 non-domestic multiplier of 45.0p can be found in the following link under the 2012-13 column on the ‘Net rate yield from local lists’ line:
	www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/1213/dasummary.xls
	We are giving businesses the option of spreading the retail prices index increase for 2012-13 over the next three years. Businesses will be able to defer payment of 60% of the retail prices index increase in their 2012-13 rates bills until 2013-14 and 2014-15. This will give businesses flexibility to manage their rates bills in the current economic climate, help their cash flow, and give them time to adjust to the impact of inflation.
	We have also extended the small business rate relief holiday, effectively doubling small business rate relief throughout 2012-13, providing reliable financial help to small firms and small shops.

Private Rented Housing: Electrical Safety

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what steps his Department takes to educate private landlords on their responsibilities regarding electrical safety in their properties;
	(2)  what steps his Department takes to educate tenants in the private rented sector on their rights regarding electrical safety.

Andrew Stunell: In August 2011, a package of guidance for both landlords and tenants was placed on my Department's website. The guidance covered the rights and responsibilities for tenants and landlords in the private rented sector with respect to electrical safety.
	Private landlords are responsible for the health and safety of their tenants. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires that electrical installations are safe when a tenancy begins, and are maintained in a safe condition throughout the tenancy.
	There are no specific legal requirements relating to the frequency of inspections and tests of electrical equipment, including portable appliances. Instead a risk assessment needs to be made in relation to the type of equipment, the users of electrical equipment and the environment in which the equipment is used.
	The Electrical Safety Council produce guidance for landlords on electrical safety and it can be found on their website:
	www.esc.org.uk/stakeholder/guidance-for/guidance-for-landlords/

Private Rented Housing: Standards

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will encourage local authorities to carry out housing condition surveys to protect tenants from irresponsible landlords.

Andrew Stunell: Local authorities already have a key role in assessing the condition of housing in their area and it is in their interests to collect information across all housing tenures through housing condition surveys.
	Under the Housing Act 2004 they also have powers to inspect individual properties and, where appropriate, take enforcement action under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. If a property is found to contain serious (category 1) hazards, the local authority has a duty to take the most appropriate action. This could range from trying to deal with the problems informally at first to prohibiting the use of the whole or part of the dwelling.

Public Sector: Information

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will publish the agendas and minutes of the Local Public Data Panel since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: The agendas and minutes of the Local Public Data Panel are published on the data.gov.uk website:
	https://www.data.gov.uk/users/local-data-panel/track
	This is the Government's data repository website, managed by the Cabinet Office.

EDUCATION

A4e

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what contracts his Department has with A4e; and what the (a) purpose and (b) monetary value is of each such contract.

Tim Loughton: The Department does not hold any contract information for this company on its central database. The Department's financial records show that the Department has not made any payments to A4e since April 2011.

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS, on cost of ministerial cars, whether his Department has any other arrangements for ministerial travel; and how much his Department has spent on (a) private hire vehicles and (b) taxis for each Minister since May 2010.

Tim Loughton: In line with the Ministerial Code published in May 2010, Ministers must ensure that they always make efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. The Department for Education currently has one allocated ministerial car. For other official journeys, Ministers use the Ministerial Car Pool Service and public transport where practical.
	(a) The Department has a contract with Addison Lee (a London-based private hire company). The departmental spend on private hire vehicles for each Minister between May 2010 and the end of December 2011 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Minister Cost (£) 
			 Rt. Hon Michael Gove, MP 0 
			 Nick Gibb, MP 261 
			 Sarah Teather, MP 938 
			 Lord Hill of Oareford 2,204 
			 Tim Loughton, MP 3,610 
		
	
	In comparison, the following table shows the departmental spend on Government Car and Despatch Agency allocated cars and drivers service for financial years 2009/10 and 2010/11. The private hire car cost comparison for financial years 2009/10 and 2010/11 is also shown as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Financial year  (1 April to 31 March) Total annual GCDA expenditure Addison Lee taxi Total 
			 2009-10 489,193 0 489,193 
			 2010-11 267,885 2,959 270,844 
		
	
	(b) Information about how much the Department has spent on black cabs and other taxis for each Minister since May 2010 could be provided only at disproportionate cost as this information is not held centrally.

Females: Crimes of Violence

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 20 February 2012, Official Report, column 723W, on females: violence, if he will make it his policy to ensure that a Minister from his Department attends every Inter-ministerial meeting on the cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.

Tim Loughton: I attend the VAWG inter-ministerial group (IMG) meetings, unless other ministerial commitments prevent me from doing so.

Schools: Admissions

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of pupils of grammar or fully selective academy schools lived outside the school's local education authority boundary in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of pupils were attending a grammar school within the local education authority area where they resided.

Nick Gibb: The information requested can be found in the following tables:
	
		
			 Proportion of pupils (1)  attending grammar or fully selective (including fully selective academy) schools in different local authorities than their local authority of residence. Years: 2010/11 
			  Pupils attending grammar or fully selective schools who live outside the school's local authority (2) Pupils attending grammar or fully selective schools who live within the school's local authority Pupils attending grammar or fully selective schools for whom local authority of residence is unknown (3) 
			 Number of pupils 37,768 122,244 249 
			 Percentage of pupils 23.57 76.28 0.15 
			 (1) Includes full-time and part-time pupils who are sole or dual registrations. Includes boarders. (2) Includes pupils resident in Scotland or Wales. (3) Pupils with missing or invalid pupil postcode information. Source: School Census (Final) 
		
	
	
		
			 Proportion of pupils (1)  attending grammar schools in the same local authority as their local authority of residence. Years: 2010/11 
			  Pupils attending grammar schools who live outside the school's local authority (2) Pupils attending grammar schools who live within the school's local authority Pupils attending grammar schools whom local authority of residence is unknown (3) 
			 Number of pupils 29,820 98,248 208 
			 Percentage of pupils 23.2 76.6 0.2 
			 (1) Includes full-time and part-time pupils who are sole or dual registrations. Includes boarders. (2) Includes pupils resident in Scotland or Wales. (3) Pupils with missing or invalid pupil postcode information. Source: School Census (Final)

Science: GCSE

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils achieved grade C or above in all three separate science GCSEs in 2011 in each local authority area.

Nick Gibb: The information requested has been placed in the House Libraries.

CABINET OFFICE

Charities Act 2006

Clive Efford: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2011, Official Report, column 113W, on charities, when he expects to bring forward secondary legislation to enable charitable incorporated organisations to be incorporated under the provisions of the Charities Act 2006.

Nick Hurd: The draft secondary legislation to support the introduction of the charitable incorporated organisation is in its final stages of preparation.
	I hope to be able to lay the relevant orders shortly.

Charity Business

Andrew Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assistance his Department plans to provide to charities and voluntary bodies affected by the closure of Charity Business.

Nick Hurd: No direct assistance is being offered to organisations affected by this one incident; however HMG is committed to supporting a healthy operating environment and robust infrastructure for the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector and is pleased that the recent Transforming Local Infrastructure's initiative has contributed £30 million to the strengthening of VCSE infrastructure organisations across the country.

Charity Business

Andrew Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment his Department has made of the effect on charities and the voluntary sector of the closure of Charity Business.

Nick Hurd: No formal assessment has been made of this one incident; however HMG continues to work with the sector in a range of ways to support charities deliver their valuable work.

Death

Paul Goggins: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many deaths were registered in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many deaths were registered in each of the last ten years. (98933)
	Table 1 attached provides the number of deaths registered in England and Wales for the years 2001 to 2010 (the latest year available).
	Annual figures on the number of deaths registered by sex, age group and cause in England and Wales are available from the Office for National Statistics at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html?definition=tcm%3A77-27475
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of deaths registered in England and Wales, 2001 - 10 (1,2) 
			  Deaths  (Persons) 
			 2001 532,498 
			 2002 535,356 
			 2003 539,151 
			 2004 514,250 
			 2005 512,993 
			 2006 502,599 
			 2007 504,052 
			 2008 509,090 
			 2009 491,348 
		
	
	
		
			 2010 493,242 
			 1. Figures include deaths of non-residents and therefore are greater than figures published for England, and Wales separately which exclude non-residents. 2. Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.

Departmental Contracts

Stephen Timms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what the monetary value was of Government contracts awarded to (a) Avanta Enterprise Ltd and (b) associates of Avanta Enterprise Ltd (i) individually and (ii) in total since May 2010;
	(2)  what the monetary value is of Government contracts awarded to (a) Working Links and (b) associates of Working Links (i) individually and (ii) in total since May 2010;
	(3)  what the monetary value is of Government contracts awarded to (a) Careers Development Group (CDG) and (b) associates of CDG (i) individually and (ii) in total since May 2010.

Francis Maude: As part of my Department's transparency programme, details of contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder:
	http://www.contractsfinder.co.uk

G4S

Stephen Timms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the monetary value is of Government contracts awarded to (a) G4S and (b) associates of G4S (i) individually and (ii) in total since May 2010.

Francis Maude: As part of my Department's transparency programme, details of contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder:
	http://www.contractsfinder.co.uk
	I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 December 2011, Official Report, column 78W.

Impact Assessments

Diane Abbott: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office with reference to the Impact Assessment Guidance published in August 2011, what steps he is taking to monitor the development by Government departments of impact assessments covering voluntary guidance and commitments; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	The Impact Assessment Guidance published in August 2011 states that impact assessments are generally required for all UK Government interventions of a regulatory nature. Regulation is defined to include guidance with statutory force or Government backing, but not voluntary guidance and commitments (page 19 IA Guidance). As such, impact assessments are not required for voluntary guidance and commitments. However, to the extent that voluntary guidance is presented as an alternative to regulation within an impact assessment for a regulatory proposal, this will be captured in those documents. The development of Impact Assessments is the responsibility of individual Departments.

Voluntary Work: Cheshire

Graham Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many young people in Weaver Vale constituency have taken part in the National Citizen Service to date.

Nick Hurd: We are currently collating information on the number of National Citizen Service participants in the 2011 pilots. This information will be available shortly, including data for Cheshire.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Emissions

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the potential costs to the UK of an EU-wide reduction in emissions of 30 per cent.

Gregory Barker: The UK is on track to overachieve its share of the EU's 2020 target.
	Increasing the EU target to 30% would be a more cost effective way of the EU meetings its low carbon objectives to 2050.
	It will also reduce the EU's dependence on imported fossil fuels which are subject to volatile prices.
	We continue to update our analysis of the costs and benefits of a move to 30% as the negotiations are ongoing.

Energy Efficiency

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

Gregory Barker: The Green Deal will radically improve the take up of energy efficiency measures in homes and businesses across Great Britain.
	Combined with energy efficiency at the heart of EMR, ambitious roll out of smart meters and Europe's first renewable heat programme, the coalition has a transformational agenda for energy efficiency.

Low-carbon Technologies

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the level of investment in low-carbon technologies in the UK.

Gregory Barker: In February, Ernst and Young upgraded us to 5(th) in the world for 'overall attractiveness' for renewable energy investment.
	Clean Tech Group estimated 2011 UK venture capital investment in clean technology at around $566 million, ranking us third in the world after the USA and China.
	We forecast that 4 GW of renewable electricity will become operational in the coming year, representing a doubling of installed capacity since May 2010.

Fuel Poverty

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the final report of the independent fuel poverty review.

Gregory Barker: The Hills Review team have set a provisional date of 15 March for publication of the report. I expect to publish a statement from the Department at the same time.

Carbon Sequestration

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to enhance UK competitiveness in (a) research on and (b) commercial implementation of carbon capture and storage technology; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The Department is actively working with the Technology Strategy Board, the Energy Technologies Institute and Research Councils on a R and D and innovation programme, which forms an important part of our work on delivering carbon capture and storage (CCS). Together, we expect to invest around £125 million in our CCS research and development programme up to 2015. The UK is also a world leader in CCS research and is in the top three countries for peer-reviewed articles on CCS published in the last five years.
	The Government remain firmly committed to supporting commercialisation of CCS and there are a number of promising projects proposed in the UK. We will launch a streamlined selection process for future CCS projects and a CCS Roadmap in the coming weeks.

Community Security Trust

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will place in the Library a copy of his speech to the Community Security Trust Annual Dinner on 29 February 2012; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Gregory Barker: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), did not attend this event.

Departmental Responsibilities

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) private sector and business and (b) third sector and non-governmental organisation expertise among officials in his Department.

Gregory Barker: We undertake a broad range of steps to develop skills and expertise among DECC staff. These include commercial awareness training covering how businesses operate and take decisions; DECC Talks speaker programme where external speakers present their perspectives; secondments (both in and out) to develop better understanding; support for volunteering and we have recently commissioned a job shadowing scheme with third sector organisations.

Departmental Secondment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his Department's policy is on (a) inward and (b) outward secondments to the (i) private sector and (ii) third sector and non-governmental organisations.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is committed to making appropriate secondment opportunities available in order to support the Department’s business objectives and to reinforce current initiatives aimed at developing departmental capabilities.
	Secondments can be temporary transfers (inwards and outwards) between DECC and any of the following:
	private sector
	voluntary sector
	NDPB's not on the Cabinet Office list and offering membership of the PCSPS
	public organisations outside the civil service e.g. local government
	Quasi public sector organisation e.g. universities
	OGD's not operating the Civil Service Pension Scheme
	Government bodies outside the UK, e.g. European Parliament.

Wind Power

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on onshore wind farms and the level of subsidy they receive.

Charles Hendry: Onshore wind is a vital part of the UK's diverse energy mix. It is a cost-effective, low-carbon technology that can be deployed at scale now to help meet our energy security objectives in a low carbon way.
	The costs of onshore wind are projected to reduce to 2020 and the Renewables Obligation Banding Review Consultation(1) proposed a 10% reduction in the level of support from April 2013. This reflects our determination to ensure that costs for energy consumers are fair and good value, and developers are encouraged to install facilities where the wind resource is strongest.
	We will complete the review and issue a Government response confirming support levels in the spring. Legislation setting the new bands in law will come into effect on 1 April 2013.
	(1) The Renewables Obligation Banding Review consultation is available on the DECC website at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/cons_ro _review/cons_ro_review.aspx

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Arts

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent assessment he has made of the contribution of the creative economy to economic growth.

Edward Vaizey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) on 20 January 2012, Official Report, column 986W.

Arts

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the potential financial burdens for the (a) creative industries and (b) advertising and direct marketing sector of the European Commission's proposals on data protection; and what steps his Department is taking to work with (i) the Ministry of Justice and (ii) European institutions to ensure that the proposals do not adversely affect growth and innovation in the creative industries.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has not undertaken any specific assessment of the potential burdens for the creative industries, or the advertising and direct marketing sectors, of the European Commission's proposals for revising regulation on data protection in the EU. The Government want to see data protection legislation that protects the rights of individuals, while allowing for economic growth and innovation and representatives of the creative industries, advertising and direct marketing sectors have approached us with their input and concerns.
	DCMS also worked with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) prior to the European Commission's publication of its proposals in January this year, and we continue to work with them to develop a UK negotiating position and help inform their assessment of the impact of the proposals on the UK. The UK will continue to work with MEPs, the European Commission and other member states as the negotiations on these proposals progress.
	The MOJ's Call for Evidence on the Commission's proposals closed on 6 March 2012 and we are currently working with MOJ to assess the contributions that creative industries and the advertising and direct marketing sectors have supplied.
	I will be meeting Lord McNally at the end of the month to further our discussions.

Departmental Responsibilities

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) private sector and business and (b) third sector and non-governmental organisation expertise among officials in his Department.

John Penrose: Raising commercial and business awareness amongst officials forms a key part of our Learning and Development Plan 2011-12, which includes a range of masterclasses and access to the Civil Service Learning curriculum in this area.
	Officials also develop expertise through secondment posts and through regular engagement and partnerships with colleagues across the private and third sectors.

Departmental Secondment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what his Department's policy is on (a) inward and (b) outward secondments to the (i) private sector and (ii) third sector and non-governmental organisations.

John Penrose: This Department has a single policy for inward and outward secondments. All requests must comply with business appointment rules and avoid conflicts of interest but, otherwise, are approved wherever they offer a clear benefit to the business of the Department and the development of the individual concerned.

Diamond Jubilee 2012

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will consider extending the eligibility criteria for the Queen's jubilee medal to include veterans.

Hugh Robertson: The diamond jubilee medal is being issued using broadly the same criteria as the golden jubilee medal in 2002. Medals are therefore being awarded to serving members of key front tine services (armed forces, the police, the Prison Service, ambulance service and fire and rescue services) who have completed five years' service on, and inclusive of, the anniversary of the Queen's accession on 6 February 2012. These criteria, which were agreed across Government and have received Royal Assent, mean that veterans will not be eligible for the award.

Film

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what representations he has received from film distributors and cinema exhibitors supporting the removal of the requirement for an entertainment licence from cinemas.

Edward Vaizey: The Department has received a range of views from a number of organisations and individuals within the film sector, including film distributors and cinema exhibitors, to the Government's recent consultation on deregulating entertainment licensed under the Licensing Act 2003. I am currently considering those responses.

Music

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on music-related activities in each year from 2002 to 2012.

Edward Vaizey: Departmental support for the arts is channelled through Arts Council England (ACE). ACE provided the following table that outlines funding levels for music related activities since 2002 through the Grants for the Arts (GFTAs) funding programme, and funding allocated to Regularly Funded Organisations (RFOs). The organisations that have been included in these figures identify music as their principle artform.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Financial year GFTAs RFOs Total music related 
			 2002-03 (1)n/a 50,451,451.00 50,451,451.00 
			 2003-04 5,979,713.00 53,485,010.00 59,464,723.00 
			 2004-05 7,317,145.00 59,259,200.00 66,576,345.00 
			 2005-06 8,976,985.17 62,739,990.00 71,716,975.17 
			 2006-07 10,550,611.00 65,426,167.00 75,976,778.00 
			 2007-08 5,432,560.00 67,639,044.00 73,071,604.00 
			 2008-09 5,082,000.43 69,755,178.00 74,837,178.43 
		
	
	
		
			 2009-10 6,259,122.00 72,407,362.00 78,666,484.00 
			 2010-11 3,653,654.00 73,959,061.00 77,612,715.00 
			 2011-12 to date 5,190,977.00 68,497,552.00 73,688,529.00 
			 Total 58,442,767.60 643,620,015.00 702,062,782.60 
			 (1) Grants for the arts started in 2003. 
		
	
	Of this money, the Department spent £440,000 establishing 14 pilot music rehearsal spaces for young people in a range of urban and rural areas of England experiencing multiple deprivation. More information is available at:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/creative_industries/5016.aspx

Music: Internet

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what steps he plans to take to reduce the amount of illegal online downloads of (a) music by UK artists and (b) UK films; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will assess the effects of copyright infringement on levels of employment in the creative industries.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 7 March 2012
	The Government are continuing to implement the online infringement of copyright provisions of the Digital Economy Act 2010. This will provide a route, for the first time, for rights holders to get their message about copyright infringement direct to millions of subscribers they identify as infringing their copyright. The letters sent will be informative rather than threatening, and we expect them to make a significant difference to the number of people involved in unlawful file-sharing. Useful work is also taking place between rights holders, ISPs, search engines, payment facilitators and advertising bodies to find industry-led solutions to the problem of copyright infringement.

Public Holidays

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 28 February 2012, Official Report, column 199W, on public holidays, when he plans to respond to the consultation on moving the May Day bank holiday; and what discussions he has had on creating an additional bank holiday.

John Penrose: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 28 February 2012, Official Report, column 199W.
	Any discussion about an additional bank holiday would need to involve the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), who have overall policy responsibility for bank holidays, together with other Departments and the devolved Governments.

Telecommunications: Competition

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers and officials of his Department have held with external organisations in which proposed amendments to the telecoms appeals framework have been discussed since 13 September 2010.

Edward Vaizey: Ministers and officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport regularly meet a range of external stakeholders, including smaller communications providers, to discuss regulatory issues including the telecoms appeals framework. Such meetings include a round table on appeals held with industry stakeholders in December 2010.

Television: Sport

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what representations he has received on the inclusion of additional (a) golf and (b) cricket events on the list of sporting events that must be shown on terrestrial television.

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has received fewer than 20 representations concerning the availability of free-to-air television coverage of national sport fixtures. However, the Department does not record a breakdown of this correspondence by individual sport.

HEALTH

Alcoholic Drinks: Abuse

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the costs to the NHS of alcohol abuse in Redditch constituency in the latest period for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: It is not possible to make an estimate for the costs to the national health service of alcohol misuse in Redditch without incurring disproportionate costs.

Alcoholic Drinks: Abuse

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the support available to alcohol rehabilitation centres in (a) Bedford constituency, (b) the east of England and (c) England.

Simon Burns: ‘Alcohol rehabilitation centre’ is not a term commonly used in the alcohol treatment field. We interpret this as meaning specialist alcohol treatment for dependence.
	The National Treatment Agency (NTA) regional teams has recently requested drug and alcohol partnerships to carry out self-assessments of local alcohol treatment systems. The Bedfordshire drug and alcohol partnership has reported that it has a full range of treatment options available.
	Self-assessments have been carried out by most partnership areas in the east of England and England, although these are not compulsory.
	The 2010 Drug Strategy stated that the NTA would begin to build a role to help improve these services. Therefore, during the transition to the new public health framework, the NTA will gather information and improve understanding of local alcohol treatment systems, the gaps and challenges, providing advice and support to the sector and seeking to promote efficiencies from greater integration of drug and alcohol treatment.

Cancer: Drugs

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cancer patients have been treated with the drug fluorouracil in the latest period for which figures are available.

Paul Burstow: Information is not held centrally on the number of patients receiving a particular medicine, nor their diagnosis at the time of treatment.
	In the 12-month period October 2010 to September 2011, the number of prescription items written in the United Kingdom and dispensed in the community in England for fluorouracil was 71,967.
	Fluorouracil is also used in hospitals. However, as it has not been positively appraised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, under our contractual agreement with the company who supply us with the hospital data, IMS Health, we cannot release data.

Cancer: Employment and Support Allowance

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the effect on the health of cancer patients of time limiting the employment and support allowance.

Paul Burstow: The Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), has held no official discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), on the health impact on cancer patients caused by time limiting employment and support allowance (ESA).
	Health Ministers have been kept informed about all relevant aspects of the Welfare Reform Bill, including those around ESA and cancer patients.

Cancer: Screening

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  for what reason regular checks for specific types of cancer cease at age 70 years; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the increasing likelihood of developing cancer with age;
	(2)  at what age regular checks for (a) bowel and (b) breast cancer (i) commence and (ii) cease under the NHS.

Paul Burstow: All of the national health service cancer screening programmes are based on the best possible evidence. The International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organisation has recommended breast screening for women aged between 50 and 69 years; that national bowel screening programmes should at least include 60 to 64 year-olds, expanding to younger and older age groups, taking into account the balance of risks and benefits and available resources; and that women who have always tested negative in an organised cervical screening programme should cease screening once they reach the age of 65. The United Kingdom National Screening Committee and our independent cancer screening advisory committees keep the age ranges of each programme under regular review.
	The NHS breast screening programme routinely invites women aged 50 to 70 every three years and the NHS bowel screening programme routinely invites men and women aged 60 to 69 every two years. Women above the upper breast screening limit can self-refer for screening every three years and men and women above the upper bowel screening limit can request a screening kit every two years.
	Routine screening in both the breast and bowel screening programmes is in the process of being extended; the former to women aged 47 to 73 and the latter to men and women aged 60 to 75.
	Within the NHS cervical screening programme in England, women aged 25 to 49 are invited for free cervical screening every three years, women aged 50 to 64 every five years and women over 65 are eligible for screening if their previous three tests were not clear or if they have never been screened.

Colorectal Cancer

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to (a) raise awareness and (b) improve the detection of bowel cancer.

Paul Burstow: On 30 January 2012, we launched the first national cancer awareness campaign to take place in this country under the "Be Clear on Cancer" branding. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer and to encourage people to see their general practitioner (GP) if they have relevant and persistent symptoms. The advertisements are appearing on television, radio and online and are in newspapers until the end of March this year.
	To ensure that more bowel cancers can be detected earlier we are extending the age range for the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme and we are introducing new screening technologies. The. Programme currently invites men and women aged 60 to 69 to participate in screening and we are supporting the extension of the Programme to men and women up to the age of 75. As at 2 February 2012, 35 of the 58 screening centres had expanded.
	We are providing over £60 million to incorporate flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) screening into the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. This follows a study that has shown that a one-off FS screening test for bowel cancer at age 55 can reduce mortality by 43% and reduce the incidence of bowel cancer in people attending screening by 33%. Pilots will begin in 2011-12 with the aim of achieving 30% coverage by the end of 2013-14 and 60% by the end of 2014-15. It is envisaged that full roll-out will be achieved in 2016.
	As part of a range of support we are providing to GPs to diagnose cancer earlier, we are improving access to a range of diagnostic tests, including FS and colonoscopy to support earlier diagnosis of bowel cancer.

Colorectal Cancer

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to encourage higher participation in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening programme in (a) Sunderland Central constituency and (b) the north-east.

Paul Burstow: The National Health Service Bowel Cancer Screening programme currently invites men and women aged 60 to 69 to participate in screening every two years, and is in the process of being extended to invite men and women up to their 75th birthday. It is the responsibility of individual primary care trusts (PCTs) to promote bowel screening locally. We encourage PCTs to consider what further action is required to promote participation. We have also run a national awareness campaign, which is designed to alert people to the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer.

Dental Services

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of dentistry by the NHS.

Simon Burns: Primary care trusts have a duty to provide or commission primary dental care services to reflect local needs. How far the provision of national health service dentistry is meeting local demand is measured through the national GP Patient Survey. The latest survey showed that nationally 92% of patients who had tried to get an NHS appointment in the last 24 months were successful. Access has increased by over three quarters of a million since May 2010, with 991,000 more patients able to see an NHS dentist. We are determined to increase access to NHS dentistry even further, which is why we announced last month an extra £28 million in year funding for dental access.
	The GP Patient Survey report, published in December 2011, is available on the GP Patient Survey website at:
	www.gp-patient.co.uk/results/latest_weighted/pct/

Diabetes: Chiropody

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Leicester East of 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 142W, on diabetes: chiropody, if he will commission an audit of the implementation of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Clinical Guideline 10: the Prevention and Management of Diabetic Foot Complications; what his assessment is of how improvement to service provision is supported by robust audit processes; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) on 29 February 2012, Official Report, column 328W.

Diabetes: Chiropody

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of effect of the reducing number of podiatrists graduating from universities on the ability of the NHS to meet the foot health care needs of an increasing diabetic population; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: Strategic health authorities are responsible for working with higher education institutions and individual healthcare providers to plan and develop their workforce and commission training places, as they are best placed to assess the health needs of their local health community and plan the workforce required to deliver services for patients.
	Information on the number of podiatrist graduating from university is not collected by the Department.
	Foot complications of diabetes are preventable, and if identified early enough can be treated effectively. Reducing the number of amputations due to diabetes relies on good self-management of diabetes and good services to support people with diabetes.

Diabetes: Chiropody

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Leicester East of 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 142W, on diabetes: chiropody, with reference to National Institute for Clinical Excellence Clinical Guideline 10, what estimate he has made of the optimal number of podiatrists required to provide appropriate foot health care to (a) the diabetic population and (b) the projected diabetic population in 2022.

Paul Burstow: Work force planning is a matter for local national health service organisations to decide. They are in the best position to assess the health needs of their local population and plan their work force to meet those needs.
	The Centre for Workforce Intelligence is currently undertaking a review of the major non-medical professions within health and social care. The outcome of this review is due to be published in March 2012 and will include podiatry.

Diabetes: Orthopaedics

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Leicester East of 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 143W, on diabetes: orthopaedics, what assessment he has made of the variation by primary care trust in the incidence of (a) major and (b) minor amputations per 1,000 population; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce such variation in incidence.

Paul Burstow: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) on 29 February 2012, Official Report, columns 328-29W.

Doctors’ List of Patients

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to recover money overpaid to GPs for patients that should have been removed from their practice lists.

Simon Burns: The General Medical Services (GMS) Statement of Financial Entitlement sets out the conditions under which capitation payments are made to GMS contractors.
	If a contractor has breached any of these conditions, then primary care trusts may consider, in appropriate circumstances, withholding payment of all or any part of a capitation payment that is otherwise payable.

Doctors’ List of Patients

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure primary care trusts remove the names of deceased patients from practice lists.

Simon Burns: The NHS Operating Framework in England for 2012-13 places a requirement on all primary care trusts to work with general practitioner practices to undertake a full review of practice registered patient lists, ensuring patient anomalies are identified and corrected by March 2013.

Fertility: Health Services

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure equality of access to fertility treatment in the NHS.

Paul Burstow: Primary care trusts are fully aware of their statutory commissioning responsibilities and the need to base commissioning decisions on clinical evidence and discussions with local general practitioner commissioners, secondary care clinicians and providers. The national health service deputy chief executive, David Flory, wrote to primary care trust commissioners last year to highlight to those involved in commissioning fertility services the importance of having regard to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence fertility guidelines, including the recommendation that up to three cycles of in vitro fertilisation are offered to eligible couples where the woman is aged between 23 and 39.
	Additionally, we support Infertility Network UK, a leading patient support organisation, to develop and promote standardised access criteria and to work in partnership with commissioners to encourage good practice in the provision of fertility services.

Health Services

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many patients in each primary care trust (PCT) area received referrals to consultant specialists based in a different PCT area in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many patients from the Cumbria Primary Care Trust area did not keep an appointment following a referral to an out-of-county consultant specialist in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The available information for patients resident in England has been placed in the Library. Primary care trust (PCT) level data have been used, as data by county of residence are not available.
	The data provided show, for each PCT, a count of first out-patient attendances and non-attendances for residents of that PCT that occurred in a different PCT, in each of the last five years.
	The number of first out-patient attendances and non-attendances does not represent the number of patients, as a person may have had more than one attendance or non-attendance within the year.

Heart Diseases: Children

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will repeat the consultation on children's congenital cardiac services alongside the ongoing review of adult congenital cardiac services;
	(2)  for what reasons the detailed breakdown of assessment scores for surgical centres produced by the independent export panel was not taken into account in the consultation document and the decision-making processes for the safe and sustainable review of children's consequential heart services; and if he will consider the implications for his policies of the assessment scores;
	(3)  when he expects to have (a) a final impact assessment report on the effect of closures of children's cardiac services in Yorkshire and Humberside and (b) a detailed breakdown of the effect of such closures on vulnerable groups; whether he plans to publish both for public consultation; and if he will take any representations made on such assessments into account in any final decision on cardiac services;
	(4)  how many of the children's congenital cardiac service units that were reviewed in the consultation on the future of such services are in hospitals which also provide adult congenital cardiac services; and how many surgeons work in both adult and children's cardiac services at each such hospital;
	(5)  if he will instruct the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts to accept the advice of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel and bring forward new recommended options that take full account of research on travel flows published after its initial recommendations for closure.

Simon Burns: The review of children's congenital heart services is a clinically led national health service review, independent of Government. Its purpose is to ensure that these services continue to deliver the very best possible outcomes for children now and in the future. It is not anticipated that any children's congenital heart centres will close as many of the services children need will remain in the current centres providing them. However, it has generally been agreed by surgeons and other clinicians, national heart charities and NHS commissioners that there is a need to concentrate the highly specialised area of surgery in a fewer number of centres.
	In developing and deciding on the consultation options, the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) took into account the independent expert panel's total score for each centre. These scores informed the JCPCT of the quality, which was the heaviest weighted criterion, of each potential option. The JCPCT agreed to refer only to the total score for each centre and not to receive the detailed sub-scores, as this would have required them to consider 451 different scores, which was felt to be impractical.
	Six of the children's congenital cardiac centres in the review also provide adult congenital cardiac services on the same hospital site. The number of surgeons working in both adult and children's services at each is listed in the following table by trust(1).
	
		
			  Number 
			 The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust 3 
			 Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 3 
		
	
	
		
			 Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 Southampton University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
		
	
	The focus of the children's review is on surgery, whereas the need for change to adult congenital services is in the provision of expert ongoing care. These separate reviews allow the specific and different issues relating to children and adults to be addressed, resulting in better outcomes for both.
	The consultation on children's congenital heart services is subject to legal proceedings. Once the outcome is known, it will be for the JCPCT to decide on the next steps. The final Health Impact Assessment will be published before the JCPCT makes a final decision. The report—prepared by an independent expert in the field—will include a detailed analysis of the impact of reconfiguration to vulnerable groups.
	(1) Surgeon numbers as at 30 November 2009 as reported by the centres to Safe and Sustainable.

Heart Diseases: Children

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent progress he has made in determining the future for centres for children's heart surgery.

Simon Burns: The review of children's congenital heart services is a clinically led national health service review, independent of Government. The Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts, on behalf of local NHS commissioners, will decide the future pattern of children's congenital heart services in England. It is expected to make that decision later this year.

Heart Diseases: Children

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he intends to call in the Independent Reconfiguration Panel's report on children's heart surgery.

Simon Burns: Following a referral from Yorkshire and the Humber’s Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee concerning the Safe and Sustainable review of children's congenital cardiac services, the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), commissioned the Independent Reconfiguration Panel to provide him with initial advice.
	The Panel submitted its initial advice on 8 January 2012. The advice, which has been endorsed in full by the Secretary of State for Health was published on the Panel's website on 23 February 2012 and is available at:
	www.irpanel.org.uk/view.asp?id=56
	Every hon. Member in the Yorkshire and Humber region was sent a copy of the Secretary of State for Health's reply to the Chair of Yorkshire and the Humber's Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the same day, pointing to that advice.

Help is at Hand

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take to distribute Help is at Hand to (a) general practitioners, (b) coroners and (c) police forces; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: I wrote to the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Coroner's Society and the Association of Chief Police Officers in July 2011 raising the issue of “Help Is at Hand” and asking that these organisations help us to promote the use of this important document.
	One of the key themes of the draft Suicide Prevention Strategy is the greater prominence of measures to support families bereaved by suicide and “Help is at Hand” is an important part of this support.

Hepatitis: Prisoners

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans he has to review the health care arrangements for offenders who are (a) diagnosed with hepatitis C while in prison, (b) diagnosed with hepatitis C while in prison and then transferred to a different prison and (c) diagnosed with hepatitis C while in prison and subsequently released;
	(2)  how many hepatitis C tests were (a) offered and (b) carried out in prisons in England and Wales in each quarter of (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12 to date;
	(3)  what consideration he has given to the introduction of a universal offer of a hepatitis C test to all prisoners who are admitted to prisons in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what criteria he uses to determine which prisoners are offered a test for hepatitis C.

Paul Burstow: Data are available from April 2010 only on the total number of tests carried out in prisons in England for hepatitis C. The number of tests performed per quarter in reporting prisons and the percentage of total new receptions to those prisons this figure represents is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Number of hepatitis C tests performed in prisons in England since April 2010: per quarter and as a percentage of total new receptions 
			  Number Percentage 
			 2010-11   
			 Q1 1,498 4 
			 Q2 1,793 5 
			 Q3 1,722 5 
			 Q4 2,187 7 
			    
			 2011-12   
			 Q1 2,477 7 
			 Q2 2,585 6 
			 Q3 2,746 6 
			 Source: NHS South Wes 
		
	
	These data may not reflect the total number of tests performed on people in prison as testing may also be carried out in sexual health services for example, which is not captured in this dataset. Data in respect of prisons in Wales are collected by the Welsh Government.
	Professor Martin Lombard is developing a national liver disease strategy for the Department and this has included the establishment of a working group to look at the provision of services for people with hepatitis C in prisons. The group is due to publish its findings shortly.
	We recognise that prisons provide an opportunity to educate ‘hard-to-reach’ populations at risk of infection with hepatitis C and to test for hepatitis C infection for those who may be identified as having risk factors for infection. We look forward to Professor Lombard's report on this subject which will assist policy makers in advising commissioners and service providers on issues such as universal offer of testing for hepatitis C.
	Prisoners are provided with information and advice on hepatitis C and other blood-borne viruses (BBVs) through a variety of health promotion resources specifically designed for the prison environment by Offender Health in partnership with others like the Health Protection Agency, the British Liver Trust, and the National AIDS Trust. Such resources include posters, leaflets, DVDs and playing cards which carry health promotion messages. These information resources allow prisoners to understand if they have risk factors for infection with hepatitis C and other BBVs and how to get tested if they are concerned.
	Health care staff use all contacts with prisoners to discuss their health concerns and this includes discussions about risk factors for hepatitis C. Primary care, drug treatment and sexual health services particularly advise prisoners in their care about risk of infection and testing. The risk factors for infection with hepatitis C are well understood by trained health care professionals in prisons and criteria for testing are exactly the same as they would be for patients seen by health care providers in the community.
	The remit of Professor Lombard's group also included making recommendations on managing people diagnosed with hepatitis C while in prisons, those transferred around the prison estate and those discharged back to the community. A survey conducted by Offender Health, the Health Protection Agency and the National Liver Disease Strategy Group in 2011 shows that the vast majority of responding prisons (95 out of 110 responding) do provide follow-up care for prisoners being discharged into the community, but the nature of this varies between prisons.
	Continuity of care within the prison estate is supported by the SystmOne national health care database in prisons, which allows receiving prisons to have access to all relevant health information for prisoners transferred in.

HIV Infection

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the level of HIV diagnoses in England.

Paul Burstow: The Health Protection Agency publishes an annual report on HIV which includes data and analysis of HIV prevalence, the number of people newly diagnosed and the number receiving HIV care in the United Kingdom. In 2010, in England there were 6,100 new diagnoses and 63,900 people with diagnosed HIV receiving care.
	Men who have sex with men remain the group most at risk of acquiring HIV in the UK. In England, there were 2,315 new diagnosis in 2009 and 2,457 in 2010.
	Heterosexually acquired HIV continues to decline with an estimated 2,800 new diagnoses in England in 2010. New diagnoses of people infected heterosexually in the UK remain stable at around 1,100 a year. New diagnoses among injecting drug users has remained low in England, as a result of the success of needle exchange schemes, at around 120 diagnoses per year.

Homeopathy: Research

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on research into homeopathy in each year since 2007.

Simon Burns: Expenditure on national health service research on homeopathy through research programmes, research centres and units, and research training awards is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £ 
			 2007-08 229,981 
			 2008-09 43,826 
			 2009-10 0 
			 2010-11 0 
		
	
	The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) has hosted one study on homeopathy. This study closed in June 2008. Expenditure by the CRN on research on homeopathy cannot be disaggregated from total CRN expenditure.
	Prior to the establishment of the NIHR in April 2006, the main part of the Department's total health research expenditure was devolved to and managed by NHS organisations. From April 2006 to March 2009, transitional research funding was allocated to these organisations at reducing levels. The organisations have accounted for their use of the allocations they have received from the Department in an annual research and development report. The reports identify total, aggregated expenditure on some disease areas, but do not provide details of spend on research on homeopathy.

Hospitals: Consultants

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of NHS consultants also worked in the private sector in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The Department does not collect this information. This information is held by individual employers as consultants will declare their private commitments in their job plan so that their private work does not conflict with their national health service contracted work.

Hospitals: North West

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost is of providing a fully compliant vascular laboratory at Warrington hospital; and if he will estimate the cost of providing a similar laboratory at the Countess of Chester hospital if a hub for vascular services is located there.

Simon Burns: The Department does not hold information on the cost, or estimated costs, to the national health service of the provision of vascular laboratories.
	As the cost of the provision of a vascular laboratory at Warrington hospital is a matter for the Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, I have written to the chair, Allan Massey, informing him of the hon. Member’s query. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
	Cost implications of the proposal to centralise arterial surgery at the Countess of Chester hospital, included in the review by the local NHS of vascular services in Cheshire and Merseyside, will be considered by local commissioners as part of detailed implementation planning. Further information on this work can be obtained from Kathy Doran, chief executive of the Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral Primary Care Trust cluster board.

Meat: Ritual Slaughter

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department issues to local authorities on the provision of halal slaughtered meat and only providing such meat where necessary.

Paul Burstow: We are advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that the decision to produce halal meat is a matter for industry. Food Businesses Operators must ensure that meat is produced in accordance with the hygiene and welfare regulations.
	There are various accreditation agencies (such as the Halal Food Authority and the Halal Monitoring Committee), that produce standards for food businesses supplying Islamic consumers to adhere to. They also provide information about the way food is produced to help consumers make informed choices about the food that they buy.
	Guidance was issued by the FSA to local authorities (LAs) on halal food issues in September 2010. The purpose of this non-statutory guidance is to bring local authorities' attention to the importance of halal food in the Muslim community. It encourages LAs to take action where there is evidence of misleading labelling or fraud.

NHS Trusts: Lancashire

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on whether the chief executive of the Lancashire Primary Care Trust cluster has visited West Lancashire constituency in the last year.

Simon Burns: The Department does not hold this information. Information about local visits by its chief executive can be obtained directly from the Lancashire Primary Care Trust cluster.

NHS Trusts: Lancashire

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received on the performance of the chief executive of the Lancashire Primary Care Trust (PCT) cluster; and what assessment his Department has made of the operation of Lancashire PCT cluster.

Simon Burns: A search of the Department's ministerial correspondence database has not identified any correspondence about the performance of the chief executive of the Lancashire Primary Care Trust cluster since her appointment to the post.
	Strategic health authorities have overall responsibility at present for the operation of the national health service organisations in their region.

NHS: Equality

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what programmes are being run by Leicester City Primary Care Trust as part of his Department's Pacesetters programme.

Paul Burstow: Leicester City Primary Care Trust were part of the Pacesetters programme that concluded in 2010. Information on the Pacesetters programmes being run by Leicester City Primary Care Trust is available directly from them.

NHS: Reorganisation

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has commissioned an independent analysis of the cost of NHS reorganisation.

Simon Burns: No, we have not requested an independent assessment of the costs. We have laid out publicly our assessment of the costs of modernising the national health service and how we calculated them in the impact assessment published in January 2011 and refreshed in September 2011.

Pharmacy

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent progress he has made on his consultation on the entry regulation for pharmacies;
	(2)  what plans he has to bring forward proposals for a new regulatory framework for pharmacies;
	(3)  what recent assessment he has made of the (a) number and (b) location of local pharmacies.

Simon Burns: We are currently considering responses to the consultation on draft regulations on new market entry arrangements for national health service pharmaceutical contractors, which closed on 25 January 2012. An announcement will be made in due course. Information on contractors providing NHS pharmaceutical services is published annually by the NHS Information Centre in their statistical bulletin ‘General Pharmaceutical Services in England’. The most recent bulletin for the period 2001-02 to 2010-11 was published in November 2011. A copy has been placed in the Library.

Sick Leave

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many sick days were taken by staff in his Department due to (a) stress and (b) mental ill health in each of the last three years.

Simon Burns: The number of working days lost as result of mental health sickness (including stress) are as follows:
	
		
			  Average working days lost to mental health sickness 
			 2009 2,251 
			 2010 2,151 
			 2011 1,457 
		
	
	It is not possible to separate stress from mental health sickness given the way that sickness absence is recorded on the Department's systems.

Social Services: Fees and Charges

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many local authorities have (a) increased charges and (b) changed eligibility criteria for social care since May 2010.

Paul Burstow: Setting levels of eligibility and levels of charging for social care are local decisions. Councils are answerable to their local populations on both counts, in line with guidance and regulation set by the Department.

South London and Maudsley NHS Trust: Prisoners

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the (a) name of patient, (b) age, (c) ward, (d) date of absconding, (e) method by which they absconded, (f) whether on remand or committed following sentence, (g) date of committal, (h) offence or alleged offence for which remanded or committed, (i) date apprehended, (j) place apprehended, (k) how apprehended and (l) whether subsequently charged with escaping lawful custody was of each patient who has absconded whilst at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust hospital at Bethlem, Beckenham in each year since 2001;
	(2)  how many disciplinary hearings have been held with regard to staff employed at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust hospital at Bethlem, Beckenham following an inquiry into a patient absconding in each year since 2001;
	(3)  what the date was of each inquiry undertaken following a patient absconding from the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust hospital at Bethlem, Beckenham in each year since 2001; and what the main findings of the inquiry report were in each case;
	(4)  what remuneration Councillor Madeleine Long has been paid in each year since her appointment as chairman of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

Simon Burns: These are matters for the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. We have written to the trust's chair, Madeliene Long informing her of my hon. Friend’s inquiry. She will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Burma

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent steps his Department has taken to help internally displaced people and refugees in Shan and Kachin states in Burma.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting non-government organisations which are providing assistance to 27,500 internally displaced people (IDP) in Kachin State over the next four months by providing humanitarian assistance in the areas of food security, shelter, water, sanitation, health and bedding.
	In Shan State DFID is supporting the work of the Shan Women's Action Network, including grants to help with the costs of schooling for IDPs.

Palestinians

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans he has to visit Palestine to assess the humanitarian situation.

Andrew Mitchell: I visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories in December 2011, and saw first hand the situation of some of the vulnerable communities in Gaza and Area C who are supported by UK humanitarian assistance.
	Access to land, natural resources and services is difficult for Palestinians living in Area C, and 90,000 people are under threat of displacement due to demolitions. In Gaza, over 90% of mains water is unfit for drinking and 66% of Gazans depend either entirely or partly on food aid.

TREASURY

Bankruptcy

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration HM Revenue and Customs has given to the Insolvency Service's proposals on reform of the process to apply for bankruptcy and compulsory winding up.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs is aware of the reforms and is supportive of the proposals. HMRC will provide appropriate input to the Insolvency Service to assist in development of the policy.

Banks: Regulation

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of progress on the implementation of Basel III.

Mark Hoban: At the February 2012 Mexico City summit, Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G20 reiterated the commitment made by the G20 leaders at the 2010 Seoul Summit to fully implement Basel III along the agreed timelines. Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G20 also endorsed the Financial Stability Board (FSB) monitoring of the full and timely implementation of the Basel accords through its Co-ordination Framework for Implementation Monitoring of Agreed G20/FSB Financial Reforms. Further details of the FSB's monitoring of progress in the development and implementation of the G20 recommendations for financial sector policy reforms can be found at:
	http://www.financialstabilityboard.org/publications/r_111017.pdf
	In the EU, Basel III will be implemented through legislation on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms, which the Commission adopted proposals for on 20 July 2011.

Child Tax Credit

Richard Fuller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of child benefit recipients are also in receipt of child tax credit payments.

David Gauke: This information would be available only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many apprentices were employed by each public body for which his Department is responsible between (a) April 2010 and March 2011 and (b) April and December 2011; and how many apprenticeships he expects each public body to sponsor between (i) January and March 2012 and (ii) April 2012 and March 2013;
	(2)  how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to sponsor apprenticeships in each of the public bodies for which his Department is responsible between (a) April 2010 and March 2011, (b) April 2011 and March 2012 and (c) April 2012 and March 2013.

Chloe Smith: During the periods specified there were no sponsored apprenticeships in HM Treasury or the public bodies for which it is responsible. In partnership with Civil Service Learning, who provide expert advice and guidance to Departments on civil service apprenticeships, HM Treasury is considering scope for apprenticeship sponsorship during the coming year.
	In addition, HM Treasury participates in two internship schemes for students from underrepresented groups:
	The Civil Service Whitehall Internship Scheme, an unpaid two-week scheme for Year 12 students. HM Treasury hosted two places in 2011-12 and will host two places again in 2012-13; and
	A Cabinet Office paid internship programme for graduates and undergraduates. HM Treasury sponsored five places in 2010-11, and three in 2011-12, and we are planning to sponsor two places in 2012-13.

Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation

Alan Beith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he proposes that payment will be made under the Equitable Life scheme to estates of surviving spouses of eligible recipients who have died.

Mark Hoban: Under the scheme rules, payments are made to the estates of deceased eligible policyholders.
	The scheme rules setting out further detail on the scheme can be found at:
	http://equitablelifepaymentscheme.independent.gov.uk/resources/index.htm

Excise Duties: Beer

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made any assessment of the effect of suspending the beer duty escalator on the number of pub closures.

Chloe Smith: Decisions on duty rates are a matter for the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.
	Given the large number of factors contributing to the success or otherwise of pubs, the relationship between beer duty and pub closures cannot be readily discerned.

Foreign Loans: Argentina

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value is of loans to Argentina made through international organisations which are underwritten by the UK; and what the total potential liability is for the Government of such loans.

Mark Hoban: The Inter-American Development Bank currently has outstanding loans to Argentina valued at $10.6 billion. The UK has a 0.96% shareholding at the Inter-American Development Bank.
	The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development currently has outstanding loans to Argentina valued at $5.6 billion. The UK has a 4.5% shareholding at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
	Liabilities for individual loans are held by the relevant bank as a whole, and as such should be considered as part of a portfolio. It is therefore not possible to calculate a potential UK liability from these loans.

G20

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the circumstances in which a country wilfully breaching its international financial and legal obligations should be required to forfeit its membership of the G20.

Mark Hoban: The G20, which represents 85% of the global economy, is a unique group of developed and emerging economies whose leaders come together to coordinate their policies and generate the political agreement necessary to tackle the challenges of global economic interdependence. As a consensus body, membership of the G20 is a matter for the whole membership.

Individual Savings Accounts: Children

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will allow children with a Child Trust Fund to transfer to a Junior ISA.

Mark Hoban: The Government have no immediate plans to allow transfers from Child Trust Funds (CTF) to Junior ISAs. Although both types of account provide children with broadly equivalent tax-free savings vehicles, there are regulatory and administrative differences between the two. These differences are a necessary consequence of the fact that the CTF was a universal scheme which received Government contributions, whereas Junior ISAs are voluntary and privately funded.
	Allowing CTF accounts to be transferred to a Junior ISAs would require changes to the legislation for, and structure of, the CTF that could impact upon all account holders and investors. So before taking action, the Government would want to make sure that any changes are in the best interests of all CTF account holders. Given the differences between the schemes—in particular the CTF stakeholder account feature—allowing transfers will not necessarily achieve this objective.
	As with all features of the tax system, the Government will continue to monitor whether or not action is necessary in the future.

Insolvency

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department paid to insolvency practitioners in each year between 1997 and 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: HM Treasury does not separately identify insolvency practitioners within its accounting system. The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

International Monetary Fund: EU Countries

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his Department's policy is on the payment of International Monetary Fund loans to non-EU countries in default of international legal and financial obligations.

Mark Hoban: All International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans are considered on a case-by-case basis, and in line with the Fund's articles of agreement. Decisions are taken by the IMF's Executive Board of which the UK is a member, and involve a formal request from the country in need and an assessment by Fund staff of the nature and magnitude of the balance of payments problem, the adequacy of the country's policy response, and the capacity of the country to repay the IMF. We would consider how to respond to any request as part of that process once we had the relevant facts from the IMF.

Public Sector: Pay

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2012, Official Report, column 929W, on the public sector: pay, 
	(1)  what the 106 posts are where there was no previous postholder; what their pay bands are; and what the aggregate cost is of those posts;
	(2)  what the aggregate cost was of all posts he has approved with a salary of more than £142,500 in the last year;
	(3)  in how many of the 83 cases where there was a previous postholder for comparison the pay approved was (a) equal to or lower than and (b) higher than that of the previous postholder;
	(4)  in respect of how many of the 189 times he was asked to approve the remuneration packages of individuals he (a) approved, (b) refused and (c) modified the requests; and what the pay bands are for the salaries he approved.

Danny Alexander: Since May 2010, I have been asked to approve the remuneration packages of senior appointments earning more than £142,500, in areas under ministerial control.
	Under this process, Departments that wish to advertise a vacancy at a level greater than £142,500 must first of all seek the sign-off of a departmental Minister, before presenting proposals to Cabinet Office or Treasury officials, who then provide these to me.
	This process does not only ensure that I scrutinise all proposals over £142,500—but ensures that all Departments consider such proposals carefully before they are presented to the Treasury. Requests are rejected, modified and improved at all stages of the approval process—and cases are often approved at a range, subject to particular requirements, before appointments are advertised. As a result of the whole process, in central Government alone the number of people paid more than £150,000 has dropped by 55 since May last year.
	Of the 83 cases I have seen for which there was a previous postholder, the pay approved was equal to or lower than that previous postholder in 68 of the cases, and higher in 15. This is estimated to save around £1 million. Of the cases where there was no previous postholder, the Treasury does not hold the names of all individuals, as the majority were approved at the advertisement stage, prior to appointments being made.
	As I usually approve salaries at a range, prior to advertisement, it is not possible for the Treasury to provide a precise figure for the aggregate cost of such salaries. However, the overall annual expenditure in association with these salaries is estimated between a range of £28 million and £29 million. Of these, the cases where there was no previous postholder account for around £7 million of annual spending.

Revenue and Customs: Standards

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what customer service targets HM Revenue and Customs has put in place for (a) answering telephone calls and (b) responding to correspondence from members of the public; and what its performance was against these targets in each of the last three financial years.

David Gauke: For (a) telephone calls, HMRC uses a variety of measures to assess service levels, including the percentage of call attempts handled by its contact centres. For the last three financial years these have been:
	2011-12: 73% (April 2011 to January 2012)
	2010-11: 48%
	2009-10: 76%.
	In 2010-11 a combination of factors (including increases in the number of notices of annual tax coding issued, end of year reconciliation statements and the number of tax credit claimants) meant that HMRC's network of contact centres experienced a significantly higher level of demand than anticipated.
	HMRC recognise that the service levels in 2010-11 were not good enough and has taken steps to improve, in the current year and over the period of the 2010 spending review.
	In (b) responding to correspondence from members of the public, the measures the Department uses are to turnaround 80% of post within 15 working days and 95% of post within 40 working days. Results for the last three financial years have been:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			 National 15 day target 15 day result 40 day target 40 day result 
			 2011-12(1) 80 63.4 95 91.0 
			 2010-11 80 50.9 95 85.3 
			 2009-10 80 53.6 95 83.1 
			 (1) April 2011 to January 2012

Shelter Funds

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his Department's policy to seek amendments to the rules of the Bank of International Settlements to prevent its use to shelter funds from legal claims.

Mark Hoban: The headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) are in Basel, Switzerland. The terms under which the BIS was founded grants the BIS immunities which were agreed between the founding members and the Swiss Government at the time of its creation.
	Under article 55 of its statutes the BIS enjoys immunity from jurisdiction except in cases where this immunity is waived by certain named authorities of the BIS or in civil or commercial suits brought by contractual counterparties. These exemptions limit the degree to which the BIS can protect its assets and property from legal claims. The BIS statutes also provide for a system of arbitration by tribunal which may be relevant to the issue that you raise.
	The Governor of the Bank of England sits on the board of the BIS and shares in the BIS are held by the Bank of England. HM Government do not sit on the board of BIS and do not typically attend its meetings. Accordingly, decisions that are taken in relation to the operations and management of the BIS are taken by the Bank of England.
	HM Treasury has no plans to seek amendments to the rules of the Bank for International Settlements and, as set out in the previous paragraph, does not have the direct powers to do so.

Tax Avoidance

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to reduce tax (a) avoidance and (b) evasion; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: This Government are determined to tackle tax avoidance and evasion of all kinds and ensure that the tax system operates fairly and efficiently for all. At Budget 2011 we set out our strategic approach in the document “Tackling Tax Avoidance” and introduced a package of measures which will bring in yield of around £1 billion a year over the course of this Parliament and protect significant additional revenues. Since Budget 2011 the Government have acted quickly to shut down loopholes which present a significant risk to the Exchequer. On 27 February 2012 the Government announced legislation to tackle two avoidance schemes, in one case with retrospective effect. By acting immediately, the Government will ensure the payment of over half a billion pounds in tax, and protect further billions of tax from being lost.
	As part of the 2010 spending review settlement we announced that just over £900 million would be made available to HMRC to step up their activity in tackling tax loss. So for the four year period from April 2011 HMRC will reinvest £917 million of the savings they make to maximise additional revenues, which will include putting extra resource into tackling evasion and avoidance. This reinvestment will fund a range of measures which will enable HMRC to bring in around £7 billion each year by 2014-15 in additional revenues.

Taxation: Energy

Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward the (a) consultation period and (b) implementation in financial year 2012-13 of the measures he announced in his autumn statement in respect of compensation for indirect carbon price floor costs to energy intensive industries.

Chloe Smith: A consultation on the implementation of compensation for indirect carbon price floor costs to energy intensive industries will commence in autumn 2012. Implementation of the compensation for the carbon price floor will begin in the financial year 2013-14, subject to state aid clearance.

VAT: Guide Dogs

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider classifying guide dogs and caring support dogs as working dogs for VAT purposes.

David Gauke: It is the type of food, not the type of dog or the use to which the animal is put, which determines the liability for VAT. If assistance dogs consume the same specialised food as working dogs, then their food will already be zero-rated. However, assistance dogs tend not to need this specialised diet and consume the same food as pet dogs, which is standard rated for VAT.

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how much has been overpaid to working tax credit recipients in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since the credits inception;
	(2)  how much has been overpaid to child tax credit recipients in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since the credits inception;
	(3)  how many people received working tax credit over payments in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since the scheme's inception;

David Gauke: The answer to these questions can be found in the Finalised Award Statistics (annual view after finalisation) Geographical Statistics (National Statistics) available here:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/final-award-geog.htm
	The average number of claimants of working tax credit and child tax credit can be found in the publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics Finalised annual awards. Geographical analyses”. For 2009-10, the latest year for which finalised data are available, the publication is here:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-final-awards-may11.pdf
	For each year, Table 2 has total number of claimants for child tax credit and working tax credit by local authority, Table 3 has this information by Westminster parliamentary constituency, and both tables have this for the UK and the North East.
	Information on tax credits over-payments can be found in the publication: “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on payments geographical analyses”. For 2009-10 this is here:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-final-awards-supp-may11.pdf
	As previously, for each year Table 3 has information on number of families with over-payments by Westminster parliamentary constituency, Table 2 has this information by local authority, and both tables have figures for the North East and the UK.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Council of Europe

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of progress to date in the UK's Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe; and what its main efforts and achievements have been in promoting and protecting human rights;
	(2)  which of the UK's goals for its Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in relation to developing practical measures in (a) internet governance, (b) strengthening the rule of law, (c) supporting Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland's programme of reform of the Council of Europe and (d) reforming the European Court of Human Rights and strengthening implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights remain to be achieved; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: In my written statement to the House on 26 October 2011, Official Report, columns 9WS, I said that the overarching theme of our Chairmanship would be the protection and promotion of human rights. We set clear priorities in particular areas, including those which the hon. Member for Foyle has mentioned in his question. Here is my assessment of progress to date in those areas:
	Reform of the European Court of Human Rights
	On 23 February the UK Chairmanship presented a Draft Declaration on Reform of the European Court of Human Rights to the Committee of Ministers. We aim to reach agreement to the text at the Brighton Ministerial Conference on 18-20 April. The need for reform is agreed by all 47 Council of Europe member states. The UK Chairmanship's goal is to lead the reform effort already under way to a successful conclusion, taking forward the work of the previous Swiss and Turkish Chairmanships.
	Internet g overnanc e
	We have been working in support of the Council of Europe's work on internet governance, including freedom of expression on the internet. The UK strongly supports the adoption of a cross-cutting internet governance strategy, which will bring together the various strands of the Council of Europe's work over the next four years. The strategy will bring together all partners and ensure full implementation of existing human rights, while looking at the challenges posed by new fast-moving technologies. The Vienna Conference on Internet Governance on 24-25 November, attended by the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries my hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey), underlined that human rights apply online as well as offline.
	Strengthening the  r ule of  l aw
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office co-hosted (with the Council of Europe's Venice Commission and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law) a conference on 2 March at Lancaster House which addressed the quality of laws and the control of executive discretion in implementing laws to prevent arbitrariness. Practical guidelines for policymakers and legislators in these fields will be drawn up as a result of this event.
	Reform of the Council of Europe
	We are fully committed to supporting the excellent work of Secretary-General Jagland's reform programme. The new biennial budget for the organisation, adopted by the Committee of Ministers in November, is a step towards achieving this. Maintaining the budget at a maximum of zero real growth, reflects the economic climate that Europe now finds itself in. And we welcome the streamlined Secretariat structure which the Secretary-General has now put into place, which should bring further efficiencies and synergies.
	Combating  d iscrimination on the grounds of  s exual  o rientation or  g ender  i dentity
	In January the Council of Europe established a Committee on Equal Opportunities and Non Discrimination. This new committee has a remit to progress broader equality issues, including lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender (LGB&T) rights.
	The Council of Europe Secretariat has also, with the benefit of voluntary contributions, been able to establish a unit to promote LGB&T rights with certain partner countries. To further this work the UK will host a conference to promote Council of Europe Recommendations on combating discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity in Strasbourg on 27 March.

Departmental Recruitment

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the advantages to foreign and security policy of appointing men and women with military experience to posts other than that of military attaché.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office employs staff with a broad range of skills and experiences to achieve the UK's international goals. Military experience can be extremely valuable in a range of diplomatic appointments. We rely on fair and open competition in making appointments, and in developing our staff. For those specialist roles where military experience is desirable, we may target our recruitment campaigns towards appropriate candidates.
	The Ministry of Defence appoints all military attachés.

EU Institutions

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to promote Scotland as a location for EU agencies and decentralised bodies.

David Lidington: When the EU decides to create an agency, it invites bids from member states. The legislation setting up an agency is based on the relevant Treaty base. The formal decision on location is taken by the European Council. The member state which is awarded the agency decides where to locate it.
	The UK takes such decisions on the basis of a number of factors, including transport, infrastructure and links to the issues to be covered by the agency. This is why, for example, the European Police College was located in Bramshill, which already has the Police Staff College on site and was therefore the most suitable location.
	The Government have been making the case to European partners, as part of the EU inter-institutional review of agencies, that the bidding process should be more transparent, locating agencies in the most suitable city rather than in the member state which has the fewest agencies.

EU Institutions

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish each item of documentation prepared by his Department in respect of the Government's role in securing the location of the (a) European Medicines Agency in London, (b) European Police College in Bramshill and (c) European Banking Authority in London.

David Lidington: Government policy is to not publish material relating to Government lobbying of other member states and the European Commission.

Iran

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the recent visit by International Atomic Energy Agency officials to Iran; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report details the outcome of its recent visits to Iran. I am disappointed at the refusal of Iran to co-operate with the agency during these visits. The international community, as expressed by the IAEA Board of Governors Resolution in November 2011, has real concerns about the possible military dimensions to Iran's programme, and Iran is doing nothing to allay these concerns.
	Despite this, we remain ready to work with Iran towards a diplomatic solution. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the
	Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), confirmed on 6 March that the UK, US, France, Germany, Russia and China, having carefully considered Iran's latest response to Baroness Ashton, agree that the international community should demonstrate its commitment to a diplomatic solution by acknowledging Iran's agreement to meet, by testing Iran's desire to talk and by offering it the opportunity to respond to legitimate concerns about its nuclear intentions. Baroness Ashton has therefore replied to Iran offering to resume talks on the nuclear issue.

Israel

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the situation of Mr Khader Adnan who has been on hunger strike while detained by the Israeli authorities.

Alistair Burt: The British Government followed very closely the situation of Mr Khader Adnan, who was on prolonged hunger strike while held in administrative detention by the Israeli authorities.
	Our officials in Tel Aviv, along with our EU partners, raised our concerns about Mr Adnan on a number of occasions, including with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the office of the Israeli National Security Adviser and the Israeli Prison Service.
	We were pleased that an agreement was reached on 21 February which enabled Mr Adnan to end his hunger strike.
	We continue to encourage the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international law, including in their policies on detention and the treatment of Palestinian prisoners. Most recently, I raised Israel's extensive use of administrative detention with the Israeli ambassador to London on 23 February and the Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister on 27 February.

Libya

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to invite the Prime Minister of Libya to visit London; and if he will ensure that members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Libya are given the opportunity to meet him.

Alistair Burt: We have extended an open invitation to Prime Minister Al-Kib to visit London, which we hope he will be able to do in the near future. We will make him aware of the All Party Parliamentary Group's interest in a meeting.

Maldives

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking (a) bilaterally and (b) through the EU to support parties in the Maldives to prepare for early elections; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Alistair Burt: We welcome the deal, brokered by India, which calls for an interim administration followed by elections at the earliest opportunity. I have spoken to former President Nasheed and President Waheed on a number of occasions calling for all sides to engage in this process.
	We welcome Baroness Ashton's statement of 21 February which calls on all political parties to immediately engage in dialogue, to commit themselves to early presidential elections and to determine the legislative and constitutional measures required to ensure that these are free and fair.
	The UK stands ready to help Maldives prepare for early elections, including through the EU, Commonwealth and UN.

Maldives

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise at the UN the issue of early elections in the Maldives; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Alistair Burt: We welcome the deal, brokered by India, which calls for an interim administration followed by early elections at the earliest feasible opportunity. We are urging all parties to engage in this process and regret as yet all parties have not agreed to its terms. We intend to re-state this position during consultations at the UN Security Council this week.

UNRWA

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans his Department has to support the UN Relief and Works Agency Summer Games Marathon to be held on 1 March 2012 in Gaza.

Alistair Burt: Some members of our staff from the British Consulate-General in Jerusalem were considering taking part in the run in a personal capacity, but they had a few unanswered security questions so in the end they did not participate.
	In the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, the British Consulate-General in Jerusalem are planning a range of initiatives with a sporting theme across the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

West Bank

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of allegations of violence and vandalism committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We are concerned by recent incidents of settler violence, particularly deliberately provocative attacks by extremist settlers on places of worship, designed to aggravate tensions.
	I raised our concerns over settler violence with the Israeli authorities during my visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories between 8-10 January 2012. I welcomed the clear condemnation of extremist settler attacks by Israeli leaders, and the stated intention of the Israeli Government to bring the perpetrators to justice. The package of measures announced by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in response to settler violence was a welcome step forward. I looked forward to seeing the results of these measures, and to seeing those behind these crimes punished under law.
	We call on all sides in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to do all that they can to prevent loss of life, to bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice and to reduce tensions.

Yemen

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had discussions with the new President of Yemen, Abdurabu Mansur Hadi.

Alistair Burt: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) has publicly welcomed President Hadi's inauguration on Saturday 25 February. After more than a year of political uncertainty and instability, both the Foreign Secretary and I are committed to putting our bilateral relationship back on a normal footing. On Monday 5 March I travelled to Yemen and congratulated President Hadi in person on his election. I emphasised the UK's commitment to supporting Yemen through its ongoing transition and our intention to remain a close partner to Yemen. Progress in Yemen since the signing of the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative in November last year has been rapid and productive, but there remain very apparent challenges to be faced. We look forward to working closely with President Hadi and offering him our full support.

Yemen

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the election of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as president of Yemen; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: On a one-day visit to Yemen on 5 March I personally congratulated President Hadi on his election. I stressed our ongoing commitment to supporting him and his Government as they seek now to address Yemen's political, economic and security challenges.
	The interim presidential election, successfully held on 21 February, marks a significant moment in Yemen's history. Despite some violence and boycotts, Yemeni voters demonstrated clearly their desire for change. Voter turnout of over 6 million far exceeded expectations. With an overall approval rating in excess of 50% of all eligible voters, President Hadi has a clear mandate to continue with the transition process, in accordance with the Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered plan.